PL: Sunderland a Ratings & Reactions

[DANVANDAL]

back to back clean sheets, another against Stoke and we really are rolling into the Christmas period!!!

[NabilH]

where also forgetting, we hit the post TWICE. we could easily have got 3-0 up. we were absolutely brilliant yesterday. now the stoke game, 3 days rest from today.

[Santa_Rosa]

Got a text from my girlfriends SoL-season ticket holding brother as I left the ground to say that second half, we were the best side he's seen there this season bar Chelsea.

I have a hangover that even a Big Mac meal has failed to bury. Still smiling though

[sled]

Back in the 70s when travel and admission prices were so very much more affordable, there would have been loads of Villa fans there for a normal Saturday match.

But how many Villa fans would have gone to Sunderland in those days on a cold Tuesday night just before Xmas, recession or no recession? Not loads and loads.

I think 700 is a pretty extraordinary figure all things considered, and on the shitty stream I was watching you could hear them loud and clear. I congratulate those who went.

Or was it at Goodison Park? Every now and then "WAAAAAAAAAH!" Ffs.

By the way, I thought Sunderland were a dirty and unpleasant load of buggers, especially the Albanian.

[stato]

Well that was worth the 8+ hours spent on a coach last night!

I've not known a 90 mins go by so quickly, it flew by. What can you say about Jimmy's goal? I thought as he hit it, "why not?" but I wasn't expecting it to go in when it smashed into the top corner I couldn't believe it.

With regards to there being 'only' 700 of us there, well I couldn't really give a shit what the Sunderland fans, or anyone else for that matter, thinks. I've said on here before that I wouldn't care if I was the only one there, as long as I'm there. I thought we generated a good atmosphere and the boys on the pitch did us proud with some really good, entertaining football. A more than deserved victory.

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to see the Villa win away HEY!

[paulanddonya]

This is getting boring - I've got sod all to moan about now !!!

What a great result that was, in it's own way just as good as the Man U one. Including us I doubt if Sunderland will lose more than 3 times at home this season - great great result.

they had there chances but we defended superbly yet again. The odd one or two times they did get behnd us - Freidel did his job.

Milner though - jesus !! , this is hysterical. He is better than Barry ever was and is only 23 in his 5th game there !.

Sweet sweet night, and do you know what is lovely (although I hate them).

Barry may have been expecting Villa to be above Man CIty at Xmas - I bet he didn't expect to be behind the Blues

Wonderful - Milner MOTM

And I word for MOn, who I have always doubted without being over critical - but at the moment, he can't do any wrong !

[Milfner]

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to see the Villa win away HEY!

There needs to be a second bit to that song!

[paulanddonya]

Just an opinion regarding the turn out at the match. I couldn't give a flying one how many we took. At the end of the day, we're 10 days way from Christmas, it's the second time we've played at the SOL in 2 months, we're still on the back end of a recession, it was a Tuesday night, it was a freezing, tickets were £27, and a lot of people had just paid £50ish to go to Man Ure 3 days ago.

Looking at the some Sunderland sites, they're panning us for our turn out, but I can 100% confirm the 700 odd of us that were there could not have been more passionate and vocal. So to reiterate I couldn't give a shit if we take 50 or 5000 to an away game. We still all get behind the lads and make a good time of it no matter what.

You are right, add into the fact we are going to Emirates next week, and then 3 cup ties in 14 days - people don't realise how much it is costing at the moment. I'm a season ticket holder, go to the odd away game , by no wherer near most, and I've gotta fork out over 200 quid extra for me and the kids in the next two weeks.

Sunderland fans have to reailse, they are one of the least attractive games, probably only 2nd to Pompey due to the distance. I had a choice go to Sunderland , or Emirates AND the Cup Semi Final - guess which ones I chose !

In fact I commented last night to a guy at work - there is something to be said for being crap - at least it's cheaper !.

Well done for those who went up.

EDIT....

By the way, if MON does want to fashion a side around a "Heskey typew player" Kenwye Jones could be that man. He wins a hell of a lot of headers, puts his weight around and scores probably more as well. Never get him in January - but one for the summer I reckon

[V111A]

Heskey 3 in 5....

Possibly not the greatest time to discuss his replacement... im in a minority who think he is slagged of unfairly and he aint a bad player at all.

[VillaAndLoyal]

Kenwyne Jones, or whatever his name is, is shit. Certainly no better than we have got. And talking to a few Sunderland fans last night, they would agree with that assesment.

[GasGasGas]

Haha 4 votes for Sidwell as MOTM?

[Ponky]

was anger that Kevin Friend, the referee, did not live up to his surname (he was “shocking”, Bruce said)

i thought the ref was very good yesterday and didn't get anything wrong .. every time the Blunderland players and fans were baying for a free kick the ref was proved right

Or did i just have claret & blue tinted classes on (like the ref :-) )

I can't figure out what they were complaining about to be honest. It was clear from the start their tactic was to take us with late tackles and pretty much play the man. I thought bar one dodgy 'simulation' from Gabby, pretty much everything we got we deserved, and then late in the game both Milner and Luke Young handed out some square-ups and got booked for it (and didn't Reid squeal like a girl when he got taken late by Young?). Then you see this rocket polisher who seems to be paid actual money to write sycophantic bullshit like this

Ref was no Friend to Black Cats

YOU can moan about the refereeing, you can moan about some gamesmanship (or cheating, as I prefer to call it), but can we honestly say we had anyone other than ourselves to blame for last night's 2-0 defeat by Aston Villa?

True, referee Kevin Friend seemed anything but Friend-ly to the home side, and he and one of his assistants made several howlers.

So much so that they were booed from the field at half-time, and then back on to it after the interval.

But they had nothing to do with either of the goals that were to prove the real difference between the two sides.

True also, that for all their skill and talent, the likes of Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor seem all too eager to throw themselves on the floor whenever the opportunity arises.

That may well sound like sour grapes, but it's diving which leaves a bad taste in my mouth, not defeat.

Both Young and Agbonlahor could represent England in the World Cup next summer, and if they do I hope they have a great tournament, but are remembered for what they can do with their feet rather than for their inability to stay on them.

There will be those who argue it's all part of gamesmanship, or say that I wouldn't be complaining if it was Sunderland players doing it.

Wrong on both counts. It's cheating, nothing else, and if a Sunderland player does it will be just as distasteful.

No one wants to win more than me, but if we have to start diving to do so, I'd rather we didn't bother.

Of course, the diving of messrs Young and Agbonlahor wasn't the reason for our demise last night.

Nobody threw themselves over to cause Lorik Cana to receive two yellow cards, and consequently pick up a red one.

Both challenges were rash to say the least, probably only slightly less rash than George McCartney's kamikaze pass which led to Villa's opener.

I've said it often enough – and if you've ever seen me play then you won't need telling – that I was never close to becoming a professional footballer.

I was, however, in my very-amateur playing career a defender, and two of the first things I learned was not to commit the cardinal sin of passing across your own box, especially without looking.

McCartney did both, and Villa punished us. The second goal was a moment of pure magic by James Milner.

However, that also came from our inability to keep hold of the ball, which, when teams hit you on the break at the pace Villa do, can be very costly.

So forget Friend and forget the diving, our problems last night were all of our own making.

After some great results so far, the wheels have come off ever so slightly in recent games, and getting back on track away to Manchester City this weekend is going to be a big ask.

[srsmithusa]

1) The referee was forced to call the game very tightly because of 3 late, brutal tackles by Sunderland to halt a Villa break. (BTW - I noted in the pre-match thread that Cana was a filthy hack of a player)

2) Anytime a referee starts calling the game very tightly it's always inconcistent becuase it rests entirely on the angle of the view the referee has. Not on the bigger picture.

[NabilH]

not 1 villa player dived yesterday, sour grapes word removed.

[stato]

I have to say, whilst at the game I couldn't see what they were getting so worked up about.

Having watched the Football First highlights today, the only decision that they felt hard done by that I'd agree with them on was when Warnock took Bent out after he'd crossed, before we went to the other end and hit the bar with Downing's free kick.

The others - the 2 bookings for Cana, the 2 or 3 fouls on Gabby (one of which should have been a penalty but can understand the ref not seeing it), the foul on Petrov, the 'disputed' throw in were all the correct decisions.

[tinker]

So thats both Sunderland and Man U who have great teams, just need the right ref to get the result

[benireduk]

Just an opinion regarding the turn out at the match. I couldn't give a flying one how many we took. At the end of the day, we're 10 days way from Christmas, it's the second time we've played at the SOL in 2 months, we're still on the back end of a recession, it was a Tuesday night, it was a freezing, tickets were £27, and a lot of people had just paid £50ish to go to Man Ure 3 days ago.

Looking at the some Sunderland sites, they're panning us for our turn out, but I can 100% confirm the 700 odd of us that were there could not have been more passionate and vocal. So to reiterate I couldn't give a shit if we take 50 or 5000 to an away game. We still all get behind the lads and make a good time of it no matter what.

You are right, add into the fact we are going to Emirates next week, and then 3 cup ties in 14 days - people don't realise how much it is costing at the moment. I'm a season ticket holder, go to the odd away game , by no wherer near most, and I've gotta fork out over 200 quid extra for me and the kids in the next two weeks.

Sunderland fans have to reailse, they are one of the least attractive games, probably only 2nd to Pompey due to the distance. I had a choice go to Sunderland , or Emirates AND the Cup Semi Final - guess which ones I chose !

In fact I commented last night to a guy at work - there is something to be said for being crap - at least it's cheaper !.

Well done for those who went up.

The sunderland fans can't exactly say they turned up in numbers. There was only 34k there. Doesn't their ground hold about 46k???Agree with what you say, lots of games in a short space of time + christmas + new year = less fans going to away games.

[markeefc]

Just an opinion regarding the turn out at the match. I couldn't give a flying one how many we took. At the end of the day, we're 10 days way from Christmas, it's the second time we've played at the SOL in 2 months, we're still on the back end of a recession, it was a Tuesday night, it was a freezing, tickets were £27, and a lot of people had just paid £50ish to go to Man Ure 3 days ago.

Looking at the some Sunderland sites, they're panning us for our turn out, but I can 100% confirm the 700 odd of us that were there could not have been more passionate and vocal. So to reiterate I couldn't give a shit if we take 50 or 5000 to an away game. We still all get behind the lads and make a good time of it no matter what.

You are right, add into the fact we are going to Emirates next week, and then 3 cup ties in 14 days - people don't realise how much it is costing at the moment. I'm a season ticket holder, go to the odd away game , by no wherer near most, and I've gotta fork out over 200 quid extra for me and the kids in the next two weeks.

Sunderland fans have to reailse, they are one of the least attractive games, probably only 2nd to Pompey due to the distance. I had a choice go to Sunderland , or Emirates AND the Cup Semi Final - guess which ones I chose !

In fact I commented last night to a guy at work - there is something to be said for being crap - at least it's cheaper !.

Well done for those who went up.

The sunderland fans can't exactly say they turned up in numbers. There was only 34k there. Doesn't their ground hold about 46k???Agree with what you say, lots of games in a short space of time + christmas + new year = less fans going to away games.

at least 3000 of their fans decided that two games in a week was too much to fork out for.