Colin Randall writes: how many times over the years have we watched Sunderland lose and wonder how on earth we came away with nothing? After giving away a soft and sloppy goal just as we seemed to have the measure of West Ham, we proceeded in the second half to create one opportunity after another that Defoe, Rodwell and van Aanholt simply had to do better with. Even allowing for Andy Carroll’s thunderous shot against the bar, we ought to have won this game. The Hammers were fairly poor and this gave a grim impression of the West Ham Way. No one played truly badly for SAFC and Jan Kirchhoff deserved to be on the winning side but this was a game where, as Pete Sixsmith observes with his customary snap verdict, utterly crucial points were crying out to be seized …
Feb 27 2016 West Ham United 1 (1) Sunderland (0) 0 Hugely disappointing. Points there for the taking
Feb 13 2016 Sunderland (1) 2 Man Utd (1) 1 Sam’s new boys make all the difference
Feb 6 2016 Liverpool (0) 2 Sunderland (0) 2
1) Could this be the season’s turning point? and
2) *The window’s shut but so’s the trapdoor
Feb 2 2016 Sunderland (0) 0 Manchester City (1) 1 One point was the least we deserved
Jan 23 2016 Sunderland (1) 1 AFC Bournemouth (1) 1 Suppose one point is better than none
Jan 16 2016 Tottenham Hotspur 4 (1) Sunderland 1 (1) Poor decision making on field and benchJan 13 2016
Swansea (2) 2 Sunderland (1) 4 Much improved second half after dismal first and a second texted 7 came in shortly afterwards – Always good to win away in Europe!
Jan 9 2016 Arsenal (1) 3 Sunderland (1) 1 Had chances but they have better players
Jan 2 2016 Sunderland (1) 3 Aston Villa (1) 1 The old hands pulled us through this
Dec 30 2015 Sunderland 0 (0) Liverpool 1 (0): Better performance but the inexorable slide continues
Dec 26 2015 Man City 4 (3) Sunderland 1 (0): Drew second half; shame about the first
Dec 19 2015 Chelsea 3 (2) SAFC 1 (0) *Fought like tigers. Undone by woeful start
Dec 12 2015 SAFC 0 (0) Watford (1) 1 * Disappointingly insipid and cannot complain about result
Dec 5 2015 *Arsenal (1) 3 SAFC (1) 1: Deserved better but couldn’t take our chances
Nov 28 2015 SAFC (0) 2 Stoke City (0) 0 Totally unrecognisable from the last home game
Nov 23 2015 *Crystal Palace (0) 0 Sunderland (0) 1: Winning ugly but winning. Sam’s the Man*
Nov 7 2015: SAFC (0) 0 Southampton (0) 1 A truly dismal display that heralds relegation
Nov 1 2015: Everton (2) 6 SAFC (1) 2 The usual post-derby anti-climax knocks us flat or Quite clear why Advocaat decamped to Holland or The defending was like Halloween: absolutely frightening
Oct 25 2015: SAFC (1) 3 Newcastle United (0) 0 Nothing better than the joy of six
Oct 17 2015: West Bromwich Albion (0) 1 SAFC (0) 0 * At least the pies were good quality to which Sixer adds Another Pantilimon error means still no win
Oct 3 2015: SAFC (2) 2 West Ham United (1) 2 Dick can be proud of his (?) players
September 26 2015: Manchester United (1) 3 SAFC (0) 0 Routine for United thanks to defensive errors
September 22 2015: League Cup: SAFC (0) 1 Manchester City (4) City’s brilliance aided by pathetic Sunderland defending or Defence horribly exposed by a rampant City or Not on the same planet as City
September 19 2015: AFC Bournemouth (2) 2 SAFC (0) 0 Couldn’t recover from a truly abysmal start
September 13 2015: SAFC (0) 0 Tottenham Hotpsur (0) 1 Vastly improved performance not reflected by result
August 29 2015: Aston Villa (2) 2 SAFC (1) 2 * M’Vila and Lens snatch a shaky point
August 25 2015: League Cup 2nd round: SAFC (3) 6 Exeter City (3) 3 Young hearts run free in second half
August 22 2015: SAFC (0) 1 Swansea City (1) 1 Gloom lifting after a more determined performance
August 15 2015: SAFC (0) 1 Norwich City (2) 3 I’ve seen some shockers in my time …
August 8 2015: Leicester City (3) 4 SAFC (0) 2 No encouragement to take from this shocker
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I agree N’Doye is the most disappointing of the new signings, so far he’s done nothing to convince me of his value to our struggle. Before yesterday Khazri has looked like a quality player, but yesterday he was shite. He never took a decent corner and why did he try that fancy stuff in the last 10 minutes when all we needed was a simple cross? I hope it was a blip because up until yesterday he’s looked very useful.
N’Doye is being played out of position which is Sam’s decision. He is not a natural wide player and the goal came when he switched wings.
I thought he did OK against Manchester United, especially after Defoe went off and he moved inside.
I’d like to see him up front, then we’ll find out if he’s another Altidore or not. I prefer him to Graham anyway.
Watched the game partly in the hope that I was wrong and many others right about N’Doye but I can definitely state that I was right and you were all wrong. He is a complete waste of a shirt and leaving him on for the whole game was a mistake from Big Sam of the level of Kirkhoff v Spurs.
He is slow, weak and doesn’t appear to try. I think his recommendation to Sam is Steve Bruce’s revenge.
PvA is rightly getting stick for his part in the goal but N’Doye could easily have helped him out but made a quarter-hearted attempt (it was so bad it does not merit half-hearted.
Constantly knocked off the ball, disappeared completely for the last 20 and hugely embarrassing going down holding his head when an arm hit his chest.
Will be happy if I never see him in a Sunderland shirt again.
As for the rest, Mannone made a great save from Noble but surely should have saved the goal (or at least tried).
Kone is a mountain and I love him but I would even prefer O’Shea passing the ball than him!
Defoe should have scored at least 1, Rodwell should have got 2 (positive that at least he got there). Kirkhoff was excellent and overall I cannot believe that we didn’t get at least a point.