Martin O’Neill saw the same match as us and correctly identified a massive improvement in confidence and also some bad luck. How well we played and how unlucky we were are both open to debate. The simple truth is that we should not have allowed a lead to be overturned as it was – and we should have taken more than one of the four clear first-half chances …
Dear Colin,
The game should have been out of sight by half time. We played brilliantly and should have been three goals up before the break.
We defended very strongly in the second half but then we were hit by two goals.
When you consider we were playing a side like Everton, who are aiming for the Champions League, I thought we were outstanding.
We created chance after chance and looked much more confident.
I don’t think anybody in the ground thought that we didn’t deserve the goal at the stroke of half time. I think the goal we got was probably harder to score than the two early chances that we missed.
See also: Monsieur Salut’s assessment at ESPN … http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/sunderland/id/562?cc=5739
and Sixer’s seven-word verdict here
[Stephane] Sessegnon and [Steven] Fletcher both had chances and it was disappointing that they went wide.
We showed great spirit and determination today and the result is hard to take.
We lost the game but we shouldn’t have. It wasn’t through lack of effort, commitment or determination.
We will come good.
All the best,
How did Heitinga stay on the field, he kicked lumps out of Fletcher without ear of disciplinary action, Lee Mason offered Fletcher no protection
I’d say that Everton don’t have masses more talent than Sunderland but that more of their players are playing at or near their peak.
If Sessegnon, Mclean, Larsson, and Johnson were all playing with confidence, then we would have won the game.
It is slightly worrying that we are slipping down the league but let’s face it, it’s nothing new, is it?
So mat you think Gardner colback Larson are good enough cant tackle none of them no pace none of them and no creativity none of them that means we will keep sliding to the foot of the table because you can’t expect 8 players to do it week in week out as for goldy he must be a muppet to think we will be fine get yourself back on the muppet show where you belong you will get the star role with your toilet paper hanging out of your mouth
You’ve already called me a muppet so would rather you moved on to a different insult just to avoid needless repetition.
Can you not question the points I have made – or challenge my logic? I’m ready for any debate. You’re just making yourself seem unable to with insulting me for insulting sake.
Wow! Such constructive debate. If we’re going to lower ourselves to that level- Alan, ever heard of punctuation? Your spelling could do with a little work too, mate!
On a more serious note- If you can’t take someone disagreeing with your point of view, don’t put it out in a public forum.
I think we need to define the term ‘good enough’ here. How good should we expect a Sunderland team to be?
Are our players good enough for the league? Yes, clearly but good enough as a group to put us in the top 6? Let’s hope that O’Neill is going to mould the players into a winning team, which can challenge for a European spot.
Some argue that over recent years we have spent at levels well above our expectations without really seeing a return for the investment – in terms of our league positions.
I would tend to agree (I seem to recall seeing a comparison between league position, money spent and points tally – somewhere?) that our spending is pretty high for a fairly paltry return.
That’s the worry for me – that the owner decides he’s not getting value for money and rides off into the sunset.
I have only had the chance to see the hour long highlights on Sky and usually I don’t like to comment on performances if I haven’t been at the game but we did look better today, creating chances which is progress. Both of Everton’s goals came from balls that were inches away from being blocked by O’Shea’s legs. The game can turn on the finest of margins. I am feeling much more positive than I was after the two derby matches.
I said if you read it properly you muppet that oshea kept felanie in his pocket while he was playing up front so he shud have brung bramble on and let oshea man mark felanie as the rest of the muppets in midfield can’t do there job that’s why we lost the game you can’t read properly you must be throwing up in your mouth coz its to near your ARSE stick to watching on the telly .
I read exactly what you said. O’Shea did not get tight for the two goals – however, I didn’t say he didn’t have him in his pocket when he was up front, did I?
Marking somebody who plays as a target man up top is a world away from marking somebody in the middle of the park. Being touch tight is all well and good for a centre back marking a forward with his back to goal, but trying to emulate that when they have the freedom of the park is very different. O’Shea just simply does not have the mobility or recovery ability to play central midfield. Or the speed to even keep up with Fellaini.
My favourite muppet was Gonzo.
O’Shea is getting slower and his inabilty to get tight quickly was exposed today by both Everton’s goals. Forget that he played in central midfield for Man Utd (against the likes of Brugges) – as he was surrounded by quality on these sporadic occasions, hell -I could play there for them.
The thought of O’Shea being employed to try and deal with Fellaini in the middle of the park makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit. And shame on whoever gave that a thumbs up.
No we lost to a team that plays like a team and a midfielder that can score goal and a manager that knows how to change things IE felanie played up front 1st half and never got a kick oshea had him in his pocket then moyes took off Neville put felanie in the midfield and ran the show again scored 1st goal then made 2nd goal why o why did Martin not move oshea to midfield and bring bramble on to counter act that ?????