Sunderland - v - Leeds United *** Matchday Thread***

[Rev72]

Watched the game again this morning (yes I am one of those sad feckers) and we were pretty leggy throughout the whole game I thought.
Too much tippy tappy football at the back and nowhere near enough penetration going forward and hardly any creativity.
Disappointed with our performance considering where we are and who is ahead of us.

Reality check , we ain't going up automatic , nailed on for the play-offs.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

Watched the game again this morning (yes I am one of those sad feckers) and we were pretty leggy throughout the whole game I thought.
Too much tippy tappy football at the back and nowhere near enough penetration going forward and hardly any creativity.
Disappointed with our performance considering where we are and who is ahead of us.

Reality check , we ain't going up automatic , nailed on for the play-offs.

If you look at our form over the last 10 games we are one of the form teams.

We have more points at this stage of the season that Burnley did last year.

Short turn around from Saturday and as many have said we looked lethargic and increasingly so as the game wore on.

Conditions won’t have helped.

When fit and fresh out best XI is a match for anything but when tired Farke doesn’t seem to rotate much.

Gruev is an international and has hardly played. Cresswell, Joffy, Anthony etc all have had little time on the pitch if any.

High points - we were in the game for 90 mins, Spence looked decent, Gnonto looked dangerous when he came on and Meslier had some very good moments in the game.

Agree with whoever said the ref was quite lenient with a lot of the challenges in the first 30 minutes and didn’t show any cards to them in that period.

3 points against Ipswich would be a great bounce back.

[Rev72]

If you look at our form over the last 10 games we are one of the form teams.

We have more points at this stage of the season that Burnley did last year.

Short turn around from Saturday and as many have said we looked lethargic and increasingly so as the game wore on.

Conditions won’t have helped.

When fit and fresh out best XI is a match for anything but when tired Farke doesn’t seem to rotate much.

Gruev is an international and has hardly played. Cresswell, Joffy, Anthony etc all have had little time on the pitch if any.

High points - we were in the game for 90 mins, Spence looked decent, Gnonto looked dangerous when he came on and Meslier had some very good moments in the game.

Agree with whoever said the ref was quite lenient with a lot of the challenges in the first 30 minutes and didn’t show any cards to them in that period.

3 points against Ipswich would be a great bounce back.

Agree hopey the Ref was a homer for sure.

Sunderland had our number last night with their tactics but in truth they were fortunate with the goal , but at times I also thought we were poor defending set plays , need to pick up 3 pts on Saturday and beat Ipswich Saturday after then it's game on again.

My gut feeling at this moment is play-offs but obviously hoping I am wrong...but this is Leeds United

[Rev72]

One last thing I will add about last night is why oh why didn't Summerville go down when Clarke pulled his shirt when he was clean through?

He goes down Clarke gets a Red , game changer if they go down to 10.

Ah well.....

[Billyni]

Only problem I have with reality checks,
How many of them is it going to take?

And summerville, he should have went down or passed the ball, either would have been better. Put a little salt on the ball and he'd eat it.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

One last thing I will add about last night is why oh why didn't Summerville go down when Clarke pulled his shirt when he was clean through?

He goes down Clarke gets a Red , game changer if they go down to 10.

Ah well.....

Quite like that about him though but agree if he went down Clarke is in trouble.

Good to see more old boys progressing well. Clarke looks like he has developed into a proper player and Huggins looked solid too.

[spaldy]

Cant help but think about the very first attack in the game. I think it was Spence that carried the ball down the left wing and served up a perfect low cross to the 6 yard box and Piroe just kind of let it run to the keeper. At the time I couldn't understand why he doesn't make an all out challenge on that ball. Nobody's even settled into the match yet and it would have changed the entire dynamics of the game. I knew 5 minutes into the game it was not going to be our night. I know that's irrational but seen it enough over the years.

It's a very tough play to make but a prem league striker should/could make it. Seems to be our curse with Leeds. I can't recall since Beckford anyone we've had that makes those inside the box gritty plays that make you wonder how that went in the net.

It does seem that teams we play against make those plays while we can't seem to do it. It also affects the play of the wings that are making those brilliant runs only to just not have it finished.

[norfolk white]

Left back is still a big issue, if we had a proper left back then spence would play right back, his correct position. Gray looks tired and half hearted, he is not a right back, he was at fault for the goal as he watched Bellingham and then gave a half hearted challenge. Very poor all round.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

So many players looked knackered.

Would have been a good time to rest a few and play others. Last time we properly rotated the squad I think was v Stoke and that didn’t go too well - maybe Farke had one eye on that result and didn’t want to rotate the squad?

Gnonto and Gruev could surely have started?

[Billyni]

We just don’t have the nous (manager or players) to beat a ‘park the bus defence’.
And then we’re always suckers for the quick break.

Sunderland played as if they were the away team. I don’t even know who their manager was, but I doubt if he’s credited with the same championship experience as herr Farke.