heid3ster

I was expecting them to give us a right shellacking, so to come away with a point is a decent result. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the game (or fortunately, from some of the comments here) so I can't comment on performance. Hope we build on this.

Sunderlol.

I'm not breaking out celebration gifs until this move is completed. Been burned once already!

Sorry, Griffin. He's pretty shit. Saying that, I expect he will score against us, that always happens to us.

Doesn't look like it, not live anyway. The two live Championship matches this weekend appear to be Burton v. Derby and Cardiff v. Reading. My BeIN Sports subscription is rapidly appearing to be a waste of money.

It's no Barry Bannan thread.

That bolded bit for me is Westwood's biggest sin. In his early days under Lambert I thought he was a decent player with the potential to be a really good player, but he has never reached that potential -- and at his current age it seems unlikely that he will improve. He doesn't show enough on either the defensive side or the attacking side. Maybe if he has Jedinak alongside him to do the dirty work, it will free him up to get the ball forward a little more effectively and contribute more to our attacking play. He's a good option to have around for the Championship and I'm happy to keep him, but overall it's frustrating that he's never really developed or improved in his time here. I think it's unfair to tar him with the "symbolic of our failure" brush, only because the one thing I never have questioned about Westwood is his attitude or professionalism. He is I think the only player left in our squad from Lambert's "Young & Hungry" first season, so I can see where that association comes from, but for me our failure has been largely a mentality thing for the last several years.

I watched Yedlin a lot when he was with the Sounders. He's quick, his crossing and passing is actually quite good, and he makes smart overlapping runs. Defensively he was a bit weak but I wouldn't be surprised if a year with Allardyce helped him out there. He's not the finished article yet, but he's better than what we have, and he's still young enough to continue to improve. He's got a great attitude, too, or at least he did when he was with Seattle. Dumb hair, but works hard for the team. Oh, and Sunderland fans have been bitching all summer that they haven't made a permanent move for him.

Welcome, Mile!

I had forgotten how much I hate Eric Black.

He really could be the difference-maker for us this season. Looking forward to seeing this deal done, hopefully in time for Saturday.

Our midfield definitely needs Jedinak.

I don't understand why we seemed to just let them have the ball the whole second half. Should have made those first half chances count from the sounds of it.

I'm not really sure that's his fault, from the very brief clip I saw. Why should the keeper have to come out that far when there's an attacker bearing down? Defense should have dealt with it.