Scrappy but a wins a win

[champs95]

Yes.. But I saw the whole game ont telly..!

Excellent match summary above champs, can't disagree with any of it.

Reading back your comments on sat, you actually called it perfectly. You mentioned Rodwells excellent start, then how he faded. and also you called the subs in the second half. And how you saw it was accurate aswell.

[Saxo1man41]

Reading back your comments on sat, you actually called it perfectly. You mentioned Rodwells excellent start, then how he faded. and also you called the subs in the second half. And how you saw it was accurate aswell.

Went on the Sunderland forum after the game, they have a thread 'Rodwell watch' or similar.. A poster watched the game from the start, hoping to see Rodwell fall on his arse.. He watched the first 20 mins, observed him crunching into tackles, pinpiont passing and working hard for the team.. And turned his TV off in disgust..!

[champs95]

Went on the Sunderland forum after the game, they have a thread 'Rodwell watch' or similar.. A poster watched the game from the start, hoping to see Rodwell fall on his arse.. He watched the first 20 mins, observed him crunching into tackles, pinpiont passing and working hard for the team.. And turned his TV off in disgust..!

I recall all the Makem's laughing saying he was the worst signing of all time.

We all know them paying money for Jason Steele was!!

I did try to tell them at the time, we aren't Sunderland, I think the mess of a club they are wouldn't have helped the lad. And he never had a manager who cared like TM will.
What's caught us all out a bit, and I include TM in this, is how quickly he has forced his way into the side.
He has got his head down, worked damned hard and proved he is a class act. I don't think we expected to see him for at least another month or so. But he has really shaken things up.

I watched him very closely on sat, and he was very similar to Tugay in how he controlled the game. He let Reed do his running etc and he just pinged 60 yard passes into peoples feet. Bennett got a ball in the first half, he didn't even have to break stride to collect the pass. Immense pass.

This brings me to another point. I do feel we are really lacking (Auks I will bring you in on this one) a winger, a real speedster. I maintain we need to go back and get Chapman. That last half hour vrs Bolton we really missed pace coming on down a wing. Armstrong is quick, not as fast as Chappers. And isn't a winger. So when he gets into positions, he doesn't know what to do.
The last time Chapman was here, we simply failed to use him correctly.
Now we have a real passing man in our side, I feel Rodwell would know exactly how to bring Chapman into a game. He would be able to unlock a defence. As good as Smallwood and Evans are, their passing isn't ever going to be of the high quality Rodwell's is. Its great to have another option, who in turn should hasten our search to bring Harry back. I really feel we are lacking that spark in a game, when the oppo is getting on top, we have no real 'get-out' and the ball is often given straight back to them, as it wasn't sticking up front on Sat at all. After the first 25 mins.

The one main thing we are missing is an out and out winger, with bags of pace, who can run at pace. It would give us even more potency. And I feel this season, our system works better as an away side.

[AucklandRover]

I love proper wingers, Champs. The only downside is that they won't perform every week. The role that Bennett fills is different, because we aren't expecting him to beat a man every time he gets the ball.
Saxo is probably correct that King should have been given more time. The trouble is, a winger sometimes comes across full-backs who read and play him well. He then keeps losing the ball and, the next thing is, the crowd is on his back! That's why I liked Chapman being used in half-hour bursts against tiring full-backs.
My other area of concern is Graham. I suspect Brereton is still a year away from his best, and I'm not entirely convinced he's an out-and-out centre-forward, anyway. I really hope Graham doesn't get injured or lose form. It doesn't even matter if he doesn't score that often. It's the room he creates for others that counts. If he DOES get injured, I can't see that Armstrong is the type to do the same job. I might still be tempted to give Nuttall two games and say to him, "Last chance saloon!"

[robinrover]

Nuttall needs to learn from someone like Graham otherwise he will spend his career in the lower leagues.