So the Black Cats got the cream – and for the simple reason my mate was the first around us to voice but we all knew: we had all the possession, they scored all the goals.
All summer us on MFW and many others elsewhere have been advocating patience. We are a work in progress, bedding in and blending will take a while. I am not hypocritical enough to deviate from that stance, certainly not two matches into a long season.
However there was a lot wrong on Sunday lunchtime and you hardly had to be Einstein to notice it.
Up until Sunderland took the lead we looked by far the better side, but the warning signs were there even before they scored. Content to let us have the ball, they waited for the opportunity to hit it long and direct. Lewis Grabban’s opener was the perfect illustration of this. A long ball, a flick on from James Vaughan of all people, Grabban’s in on Angus Gunn and that’s that.
The old failing of not anticipating danger and ironically giving one of the shortest men on the pitch the space to win the nod-on reared its ugly head again. Pity one of our ugly heads didn’t get to the ball.
We huffed and puffed but appeared really hesitant in the final third – maybe because we had little pace available and turning it inside or even backwards from good positions was the only available option.
Aiden McGeady’s strike was excellent – some moaners blamed Gunn but I’m right behind the goal and he saw it slightly late; I don’t see what he could have done to keep that one out and fair play to McGeady for a top class hit.
The third goal: no anticipation once more, precious little marking and doubtless giving a lot of satisfaction to Grabban. Scoring in front of a Barclay, which had been singing naughty songs at him (I particlarly liked the one that appeared to be a take on Blur’s Parklife), must have warmed the cockles of his heart. Unfortunately.
Steven Naismith and Marley Watkins did little to impress.
The amount of times James Husband was in acres of space on the left only to be ignored by James Maddison or whoever was ridiculous. We offered little down the left flank all game for just that reason.
One wry comment from a senior citizen nearby was that the squad should collectively attend a certain type of NHS clinic as all the sideways stuff must surely have given them crabs.
Rumours still surround the future of Nelson Oliviera – we’ll just have to see how that one goes, of course.
In the interest of balance, there were some positives worthy of documentation.
Maddison looked good, and until Yanic Wildschut was removed for Josh Murphy in a like-for-like substitution he at least offered what little pace we had up to that point. Ivo Pinto is a possibility for QPR I would imagine – I’d quite like to see Wildschut in tandem with him on the right, but that’s up to Daniel Farke.
And we didn’t fold. We kept going, and had another one have gone in I wouldn’t have wanted to be Sunderland seeing out stoppage time. But it didn’t. They had efficiently done a job on us and were good value for their win. We woz not robbed.
The supporters did their bit too – the atmosphere was a step up on the latter days of Alex Neil, anyway.
From a personal point of view, to hark back to some summer musings about there being little natural wastage and therefore not much opportunity for newer, younger supporters to attend games, let alone obtain season tickets: I was surprised at how many new faces I saw. I can only speak about my immediate environment of Upper Barclay D Block, but it looks like quite a few have moved on and been replaced. Que sera, etc.
Daniel Farke has been quoted more than once as saying how much he enjoys coaching and the extent to which he likes to work with the current squad.
Well Daniel, there’s plenty of opportunity for you to get your kicks as there’s loads of work to be done by the looks of it. Long balls and set pieces come immediately to mind.
And as for the Cats who got the cream, their fans were as friendly and gracious as ever.
Great read as usual Martin.
As any supporter I am disappointed in the result and can only go by what I read and as with your article all have said the same thing work in progress, and a good preseason doesn’t always pave the way for a good start to a new season.
I mentioned in another article today if Farke does have a problem with NO then this has to be resolved for the benifit of all, not one article has mentioned CJ and Naismith as potential winners on Sunday and it seems this weeks substitutions came on to late to affect the outcome.
We have 2 potential very good CB in place but with little experience in first team football and playing in a new league must be daunting to them and my hope is a couple of set backs doesn’t hurt their development.
SW and DF needs to get another striker in possibly 2 if the rumours are right and NO will leave for wolves or Reading plus an experienced CB could I suggest Bassong he is still not signed to another club and if he is willing to except a 1 season contract could offer some championship experience would he take a large pay cut also.
Thanks Alex.
I would suggest Sebastien Bassong is a non-starter, tbh.
No way am I I privy to what goes on at Colney, but there was a rumour back in the day that taking some of the young lads to London for a “nght out” was his idea of improving squad morale. Well. it equals the exact opposite to me.
He’s gone, and despite a lovely letter to all of us which was much appreciated (particularly by me for what t’s worth) he ain’t never coming back.
Great comment, and thanks once again.
I agree that patience is important and it’s too early to be demanding drastic changes.
However, three competitive games, no clean sheets, and six goals conceded falls into my ‘early warning’ category. Goals conceded was one of the two main stats I felt would indicate potential success from my analysis (the other being away points). Still, it’s early days.
Dave: I can already see the lights on amber; but as you say, it’s early days.
Looking forward to your next statto piece.
Good stuff, Martin.
For once, though, I have a disagreement with you. Marley Watkins certainly made little impact, but I thought Steven Naismith was one of our better performers. He linked play well, gave constant guidance and encouragement to younger teammates – and above all, perhaps, he was the one player urging us to move the ball forward more quickly. Others have said it since the game, but he was trying to make it happen at the time.
It’s interesting how Naismith seems to split supporters’ opinions – with many, like yourself, saying that he links play well and is a leader on the pitch whilst others say he is hopeless.
I’m afraid to admit that I am in the latter group – who can’t see anything other than an £8 million player constantly give the ball away and whinge at the people around him. I appreciate the work rate but he is one of our highest earners and expect a lot more quality from him this season.
I’m very much in alignment with you on this one Pete.
I would go as far as to suggest he IS our highest earner.
And indeed, he does split opinion. Some folks see qualities in him I don’t. I go with the view that he was only ever a bit-part player at Everton for a reason.
In fact, when nothing’s going on in the international break he could be worth an article in his own right so thanks for the inspiration:-)
And in the first half he was the driving force from midfield and hit several great passes, switching play to both wings. He also won more than his fair share of loose balls. I will accept that Naismith did not shine last season but I really cannot see how you can conclude that he was not one of our better players on Sunday.
Your stress on the first half is correct – he went a bit awol in the second which is not ideal when you’re chasing a game.
I’m hardly saying he’s a bad player – he palpably isn’t – but he didn’t stand out to me on Saturday.
Comments here show just how devisive opinions of him are!
“I mentioned in another article today if Farke does have a problem with NO then this has to be resolved for the benifit of all”
I don’t think Farke has a problem with Oliveira at all. He had a clear reason for starting with Jerome at Fulham, and having Nelson come on from the bench. Effectively he was playing the same team and system, bar Naismith, v Sunderland. You might as well conclude that he has a problem with Josh Murphy because he’s starting Wildschutt instead.
The real problem is that many fans prefer Nelson to start and because he hasn’t are trying to explain Farke’s choice by reading into it more than is there, rather than accepting that he actually knows a damn sight more about it than they do..
Naismith brings nothing to the team and never has in 18 months,a luxury wage the club can’t afford.
Wow, if Bassong is the answer, what is the question?!
For me, alarm bells started going off loudly when Swindon, a team I saw a few times last season & looked as if they would benefit from Chris Hughton being their attacking coach, cut through us on multiple occasions last week. Happy to be patient – I think we’ll need to be.
It seems we are trying to walk the ball into the net and precious few teams in the Championship will allow you to do that. Ok if you are good enough you can cut through a defence this way -like Arsenal at their best-but we aren’t at present.. I think Maddison is being played too deep and he and Wes should be behind the strikers ,
I would like to see start against QPR:
Gunn
Pinto (or Godfrey), Zimmermann Franke Husband
Reed
Maddison Hoolahan (or Stiepermann)
Wildschut ( or Watkins) Oliveira Murphy
I think Watkins needs to beef up a bit before he can play central striker.