Keir Bradwell has been quick off the mark today, as has his editor, Nic Wiseman. A good performance has resulted in good ratings for most of the squad:
Sunderland 1 – 1 Everton
Pantilimon – 8
Outstanding. He might have done better for their goal, but other than that, he was brilliant. Definitely deserves to keep his place in the side. Particularly impressive against Lukaku in a 1-on-1.
Vergini – 6
Not a stand out performance from Vergini, although he was again pushed out from his centre-back position given the injuries to van Aanholt and Jones. Seemed to deal pretty well with everything that was thrown at him.
O’Shea – 6
Solid. Nothing special but kept a clean sheet from open play.
Brown – 6
See O’Shea. –and almost won it at the end—Ed
Reveillere – 7
Got forward quite often, which was nice to see. Seems like quite an astute addition to the squad. Kept McGeady quiet.
Larsson – 8
I’m far from Larsson’s biggest fan but his free kick today was world class and he seemed very good at harrying the ball down and applying pressure. Impressive.
Bridcutt – 7
Did well. Nothing spectacular and had a few wayward shots, but other than that, did a good job of replacing Cattermole. Was a bit fortunate not to be responsible for a Lukaku goal, though.
Gomez – 7
Could well have seen himself sent off at some point, but was impressive otherwise.
Johnson – 6
I’m a big fan of Johnson but he seemed quite quiet today. Offered little in attack.
Wickham – 7
Aside from the penalty, I thought Wickham was very good today. Easily the most threatening of all of our attackers. Eyebrow raised—Ed
Fletcher – 6
It was hoped that he’d build on his performance at Palace, but Fletcher was ineffectual today. Should have got on the end of a Buckley cross towards the end of the match.
Buckley – 8
An attacking masterclass. Direct, fast and with a great final ball.
Rodwell – 6
Pretty quiet, was only on the pitch for ten minutes.
What did Gomez do to be so terrible?
Buckley put in a good cross which should have resulted in a goal. His contribution to games is minimal overall, but when he does do something, then there is an end product invariably.
Just adding to what seems to be an almost unanimous view on Gomez, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as slow. He walks through games entirely.
All Buckley did was fall over to win a free kick, the rest of the time he was like a headless chicken, (an attacking masterclass?? hardly). Larsson was outstanding, it was Bridcutt’s best performance in a Sunderland shirt. There is no way Pantilimon deserves 8, his distribution was abysmal.
Right so someone who provides the best chances we’ve had all game deserves the title of a “headless chicken”, and some fairly heroic goalkeeping “no way” deserves an 8. Okay.
I thought Gomez looked disinterested. He is a subtle player but there is a fine line between being subtle and being disinterested. He trod over it today. Didn’t look happy when he was taken off.
O’Shea was tremendous as was Reveillere.
Fair play to Keir for doing this and I know it is purely a matter of opinion but Gomez was awful today. Lazy, ineffective and should have been sent off for diving. I also think that 6 is low for both centrebacks who were excellent. I thought that Fletcher looked really sharp!
Overall, decent performance, good point and a good game to watch.