PL: Sunderland h Ratings & Reactions

[Reality]

Just our luck..honest to God.

[The_Steve]

Haven't seen the game but judging by the reactions, average performance at times, crap officiating and Craig Gordon having a stormer. On another day we might have won but we didn't and possible new injuries also.

[Hanky]

Delfouneso looked lightweight still though I stand by my comments that I'd rather see him there than Heskey.

[Reality]

His run down the wing was lovely to see.

[praisedmambo]

For me I found that was the most frustrating game this season. The other bad results were easier to take but now time is running out and this feeling of falling away in the league is too familiar. Gordon made quite a few top class saves though but this right back situation is really winding me up. I swear it's definitely cost us points - just makes me think of the West Ham game at home where there was barely any threat from them and Cuellar kept trying balls down the line and knocking them out, he's clearly a good center back however.

At least city lost.

[Genie]

Oh to have a natural finisher up front. I wish Darren Bent was wearing our shirt last night. Fantastic finish when he was given offside in the first half.

Getting very tired of the usual hard slog to get into contention come January and then MON not buying the players we need to get us over the line.

[Maradona10]

Thought we had enough chances to win the game but wasn't our day! Was anyone else pissed that Cattermole was sent out to damage Milner, this is why I get pissed at refs, he made 3 bookable challenges but didn't even get a yellow!

[thejoker]

Carbon copy of last season - not strengthening in January will cost us again, why didn't we learn from last season. Maybe just a knee-jerk reaction, but starting to think MON has taken us as far as he can.

[ED]

strengthening in January will cost us again

TBH strengthening in january is virtually impossible, did you see how little money got spent?

He needs to do it in the summer

[Salsa Party Animal]

Yup as IF club A sell Player Z to Villa they need to have Player Y from Club B and Club B need to find Player X from Club C.

If a club got on form striker they wouldn't sell him in middle of season.

[Richard]

Another extremely disappointing result and yet another huge opportunity lost. Not sure we're going to get anymore

[markeefc]

If I were Stokes Whitehead, I would be rally pissed off that the Mike Dean that turned uo at VP last night was clearly a different one to that who sent him off at the Weekend.

[Malachite]

For me certain players looked jaded, bound to happen, games running out, this is where the team (players and management) needs to take a realistic approach, look long and hard at whats achievable, we have to finish in that top 6 of premiership clubs, 5th and 6th is a world apart from top 4, that's a whole different league, we need to target the games we have to take 3 pts from as a must, and get the points, target those games and treat them as cup finals and give blood to get the result, IMO last night was one of those fixtures as was Wolves, 4 dropped points IMO that would have made 5th and 6th place more achievable taking pressure of any defeat in the coming Chelsea game if we loss.

Lucky and a life saver that Carew comes good just at the right time, just as well really, Heskey?, defence looked tired, Fonz, said it before, he needs games, probably a spell out on loan at a good championship side may have paid dividends at an earlier stage, Young looks sharpish again, said it before, we need Agbonlahor back in side desperately, average side otherwise, its like boxing, with gabby we look like a boxer going forward attacking probing, punching but looking to cause damage, without we look like a boxer prepared to spar be patient and play the waiting game for the chance and at this time in the season with everybody desperate for points, that dodgy.

[paulanddonya]

There are two ways of looking at this.

a. The game

Well we didn't play that bad, but you never can see us scoring. Young yet again, put cross after cross after cross in, but who to. I thought Nathan was lively if not spectacular, and he offers so much more than Heskey. Unfortunately he was doing the donkey work role for Carew. I think Nathans ability would be the goalscoring role, whilst Gabby does the running.

Petrov - come to in a minute. Cueller , same old, what the hell is it with this totally aimless, totally inaffective looping long throw - he is not Rory Delap, so why on earth ?

b - The manager

I think this game absolutely typifies why he has taken us as far as he can, he will never, ever get a team top 4, he hasn't got the tactical nouse. He has one plan , 4-4-2 - and he has no idea of how to change it. Last night, perfect example.

Petrov, absolutely totally out on his feet by 55 mins (which is even bad by his standards). He HAD to be taken off, he was offering absolute nowt and Sunderland were running through our midfield. Now for some reason, he took Milner off, and put Sidwell on - maybe Milner was injured, who knows.

But it didn't change the fact Petrov was done, and of course , they still controlled midfield.

All MON can do is like for like, Heksey / Delfonouso , Sidwell / Milner. The game was crying out for a change - Petrov needed off, and if we had no one like for like on the bench - that means a tactical change.

But MON is absolutely clueless how to.

And there you go - keep saying it, Everton will definately finish above us - and we are looking at the Blues more than Spurs.

People better start realising it !

[Qwpzxjor1]

An okay performance, a poor result. But credit to Sunderland and especially Craig Gordon. With nothing to play for I half expected them to be competely out-desired, but that was far from true. They went in for every challenge and seemed to be first to every second ball. There was certainly a little more luck on their side in terms of how the loose balls were falling, but they matched our desire, which is very worrying.

I know it's all if's and but's, but Cuellar was uncomfortable again at right back and Dunne was clearly not 100% fit. With Luke Young and Beye I really don't see what the problem was with Cuellar at centre back last night. It probably means Dunne will be less than 100% for the next game now too, whereas he could have been rested.

Glad The Fonz did well. Still alot to work on but I thought he offered much more than Heskey. Just a shame it was an enforced change, which means as soon as Heskey is fit again he's back above Fonz is MON's pecking order.

[roonst83]

We

looked

shattered.

[Rob182]

Young was outstanding.

Carew was good.

Downing and Cuellar were shite.

The rest OK.

We played some good stuff in the first half. Very disappointed in the second half performance and the result.

I thought Downing played well. He kept pressuring their full back, he kept the ball moving for us and put in some really good crosses.

There's a guy who sits behind me in the Holte and he constantly slates Downing. Last night there was an overshot long ball by one of the midfielders and Downing sprinted to the corner and jumped up in the air with his leg stretched but could only get a touch on it. The ball rolled out for a goalkick and the guy behind me said the usual "Downing is sh*t! Get him off!".... I don't get it.. :?

For me - Young MOTM with Downing and Carew not far off.

Delfouneso played well and, imo, offered more upfront than Heskey would have.

It's looking unlikely that we'll get 4th or 5th. I just hope we can maintain our scoring and tighten up the defence for the rest of the season.

[Undesirable]

It wasn't a bad performance but i'm obviously disappointed we didn't take all three points. Once again we looked brilliant in the opening 10 minutes as we did against Wolves, our passing was slcik and direct and we looked like we were going to score. Carew always looked a threat, Ashley Young looked good on either wing and put some good balls in, Downing closed down the opposition and kept them under pressure. However Milner, Dunne and Petrov looked tired which lead to a couple of mistakes especially from Petrov who had a 5-10 minute spell in the second half when he didn't seem to be able to do anything right!

Although 4 points isn't a massive gap i think we've relinqueshed our grip on 4th spot, 2 points against dog heads and Sunderland isn't enough, if we'd been luckier we might have had all 6 points and would be sitting pretty in 4th place now.

We just lack that special something, that killer touch, i think if we had that ellusive "20 goal a season striker" and decent back up for Milner we'd be in 4th. We shouldn't forget that the Lerner/O'Neill project is a long term one and that we're improving all the time, getting more difficult to beat and proving more of a challenge to the top clubs in the league. If we finish 7th or 8th this season then it will definately have been a missed opportunity to break into the Sky 4, but with a league cup final and a possible FA Cup final i won't be whinging too much.

UTV

[CottenM]

Another match where a Carew nod in off the corner, or Collins finding the net with his header, and we would probably be hailing a professional and tidy home win. The defense didn't look as solid as it can, but i only remember Friedel making one save, and as mentioned above we did have a few good chances.

Here's some ratings from me anyway...

Freidel - 6 - Beaten by a good finish, made one good save, but i don't know what he was doing by the corner flag when Bent quite easily kept the ball in play.

Dunne - 5 - May have set the bar too high with his earlier performances, got caught napping a couple of times. Could be down to slight injury, or just having an off day like he used to at Man City from time to time.

Collins - 6 - More solid than Dunne, should have scored from a Downing cross, could clear his lines better.

Cuellar - 6 - Is good at defending, not with the ball at his feet. Why is he still at full back? Better than Saturday though.

Warnock - 6 - Overlaps well, and gets in a tackle when needed, but both elements have faded since he got injured a while back.

Petrov - 5 - Had a good first half, tidy on the ball makes the odd block. Didn't do anything second half, needs subbing early / a rest.

Milner - 7 - Not amazing, but still created a couple of things, and keeps going. Would have made a run in Petrov's position in the last few mins.

Downing - 7 - Better than the weekend, went past the fullback a couple of times but mostly leaves Young to do that. Downing keeps the ball well and will whip in a couple of great crosses every game, one of which Collins should have scored from

Young - 9 - MOTM Gets a yard of space, whips a quality ball in, what more can you ask? Even remember a couple on the left foot.

Carew - 8 - Good strikers goal, should have had another with his head. Holds the ball up well but could do more, higher up the pitch.

Heskey - Off injured early, not enough to rate

Fonz - 7 - Proved that he is capable at this level, is a better option than two big guys imho.

I'm not blaming the referees for the poor result, but they were really poor today. No corner for Gordon's save stands out.

[err1]

Friedel - 5

Warnock - 5

Dunne - 5

Collins - 7

Cuellar - 7

Young - 9

Downing - 6

Petrov - 7

Milner - 6

Delfouneso - 8

Carew - 9