Monsieur Salut writes: what a transformation! Here was a performance unrecognisable from the dross seen at Turf Moor. Most of us would have taken a point before the game; against title contenders, we might easily have won had Anthony Taylor, who had curiously patchy curate’s egg of a game (ie good in parts), given us not two but three penalties, the disallowed one no less a stonewall spot kick than the two he awarded. A good game and Pete Sixsmith‘s instant seven-word verdict reveals a happier man than we heard from at Burnley …
January 2 Sunderland (1) 2 Liverpool (1) 2 Unexpected but thoroughly deserved. There is hope
December 31 Burnley (1) 4 Sunderland (0) 1 Probably the worst Sunderland display this century
December 26 Manchester United (1) 3 Sunderland (0) 1 Disappointing ending after a hard working display
December 17 Sunderland (0) 1 Watford (0) 0 Dug deep for a welcome Christmas present
December 14 Sunderland (0) 0 Chelsea (1) 1 A decent performance but not enough quality
December 10 Swansea City (0) 3 Sunderland (0) 0* Woeful performance resurrects all the old fears
December 3 Sunderland (0) 2 Leicester City (0) 1 * Superb team display; heroes all over pitch
November 26 Liverpool (0) 2 Sunderland (0) 0 * Committed, organised resistance overcome by better side
November 19 Sunderland 3 (1 ) Hull City 0 (0 ) Victor’s the boy. We have some hope
November 5 Bournemouth (1) 1 Sunderland (1) 2 *Anichebe typifies gutsy display that gives hope
October 29 Sunderland (0) 1 Arsenal (1) 4 Spectacular collapse as soon as Giroud appeared
October 26 EFL Cup 4th Round: Southampton (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 0 * More fight but still no real threat
October 22 West Ham United (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 0 A real killer. Deserved a point. Damn
October 15 Stoke City (2) 2 Sunderland (0) Another inadequate performance that offers little hope
October 1 Sunderland (0) 1 West Bromwich Albion (1) 1 Awful lot of cracks to paper over
September 24 Sunderland (1) 2 Crystal Palace (0) 3 Shambolic defending, barely of Wearside League quality
EFL Cup 3rd Round: September 21 QPR (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 2 *Paddy McNair our new Defoe? No but…
September 18: Tottenham Hotspur 1 (0) Sunderland 0 (0) Point lost thanks to traditional defensive howler
September 12 Sunderland 0 (0) Everton 3 (0) Torn apart in an abysmal second half
August 27. Southampton 1 (0) Sunderland 1 (0) Disappointing at the end, as ever here
August 24. EFL Cup 2nd Round: Sunderland 1 (0) Shrewsbury Town 0 (0) Poor game settled by an excellent goal
August 21: Sunderland 1 (0) Middlesbrough 2 (2) Another season of struggle on the cards
August 13: Man City (1) 2 Sunderland (0) 1 Held them well but tired legs told
Join the Salut! Sunderland Facebook group – click anywhere along this line
And follow us on Twitter: @salutsunderland … click along this line
I thought a draw was fair. Klopp is right that Defoe wasn’t fouled for the free kick but everyone else is right that we should have had another pen and he has chosen not to mention how often Janusaj was flattened for no free kick.
I’d like to take the chance to praise some players who get constantly slated (often fairly). I thought Rodwell was excellent today and Donald Love again looked like a decent full back. Mannone had a good game, other than allowing a cross to go through a yard from goal that should have cost us, but I thought man of the match was clearly Ndong. Won the ball constantly and, this time, didn’t give it away. He does so many things right every game but gives it away to often in dangerous places but that didn’t happen today and he had a fantastic game.
A couple of points, 1 positive and 1 negative:
1) That was not a team that has lost faith in the manager. They all tried exceptionally hard (credit Borini for a couple of minutes of flying around that lifted the entire ground)
2) Why is our home support so poor when the away support is the best in the country. I simply cannot believe how many people left early today. How could anyone choose to leave that game?
Dave, I agree that Ndong was a different player in keeping possession. Yes, the crowd were strangely quiet and odd that so many left early, it was too exciting to miss. In the first half all I could hear were the travelling fans. Odd.
Smashin’ birthday present. Thanks lads for showing that there is some fight in the team and you can perform at the highest level. Every week would really make a difference! It was the gutsiest team performance I have seen for many a moon. All credit to Manone for some excellent saves, Borini for running all day, Love for holding fast at right back and getting forward, Januscz for some trickery and Rodwell for working hard and making chances. Defoe was cool as a cucumber taking both pens (stonewall handball not given too). Entertainment of the highest order. End to end, exciting, controversial and a better result than most anticipated. 8/10. Thanks John.
Bloody excellent today. Liverpool were plain lucky
not to lose