Jake: ‘not so silly a cup after all’
As Salut! Sunderland‘s tweet put it, this was game that would take us one step from Wembley if we won, but didn’t really matter if we lost since it’s a Mickey Mouse competition anyway. In the event, Pete Sixsmith and our deputy editor Malcolm Dawson were there to witness a good win. So the Checkatrade is important after all. Watmore could you want than one goal? Another, from Gooch. One of the Salut team will be writing about the match at greater length. This is the place for the instant verdict, preceded by an asterisk if someone other than Sixer proves the seven-word summing-up …
Checkatrade Trophy quarterfinals: January 22 Sunderland 2 (1) Manchester City Under 21s 0 (0) Clean sheet, two goals and a semifinal
January 19 Scunthorpe United 1 (0) Sunderland 1 (o) Same old story. One goal rarely enough
January 12 Sunderland 1 (1) Luton 1 (0) Failure to build on lead costs us
January 5 Charlton (0) 1 Sunderland (1) 1 * Sunderland weather storm to earn useful point
January 1 Blackpool (0) 0 Sunderland (1) 1Outstanding performance by Maja earns the points
December 29 Sunderland (1) 1 Shrewsbury Town (1) 1 A very frustrating afternoon. Never got going
December 26 Sunderland (1) Bradford City (0) 0 Hard fought win and thanks to linesman
December 22 Portsmouth (0) 3 Sunderland (0) 1 Better side until Loovens’s idiocy turned game
December 15 Sunderland 2 (1) Bristol Rovers 1 (1) * Just enough quality snuffs out the gas and Gas pressure tests us at the end
December 11 FA Cup 2nd Round replay Sunderland 0 (0) Walsall 1 (0) Pedestrian performance that raises some serious doubts
December 8 Accrington Stanley A (0) Match Abandoned Sunderland (0) Wet, wet, wet and to do again
December 1 Walsall 1 (0) strong>Sunderland 1 (0) *Fifteen minutes of Walsall pressure means replay
Nov 27 Sunderland 4 (3) Barnsley 2 (1) An important win with some shaky moments
Nov 24 Walsall 2 (2) Sunderland 2 (2) Even more heroic than Thermopylae and Agincourt
Nov 17 Sunderland 1 (0) Wycombe Wanderers 1 (0) A fair result after a disappointing performance
Nov 13 Morecambe 0 (0) Sunderland 1 (0) Left it late but the run continues
Nov 11 Port Vale 1 (1) Sunderland 2 (2) Negotiated a tricky tie successfully. Southport next?
Nov 3 Plymouth Argyle (0) 0 Sunderland (0) 2* Solid team performance earns another away win*
Oct 27 Sunderland 3 (1) Southend United 0 (0) Three goals and another clean sheet. Great
Oct 23 Doncaster Rovers 0 Sunderland 1 (0) Winning ugly is just fine by me.
Oct 20 Shrewsbury Town 0 (0) Sunderland 2 (0) A comfortable win that just oozed professionalism
Oct 6 Bradford City 1 (0) Sunderland 2 (1) Great win but Power made it difficult
Oct 2 Sunderland 2 (1) Peterborough 2 (0) Good point but spoiled by woeful refereeing
Sept 29 Coventry City (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 1 Fair result that could have been worse
Sept 22 Sunderland 4 (3) Rochdale 1 (0) Fifteen minute purple patch wrapped this up
Sept 15 Burton Albion 2 (2) Sunderland 1 (o) Weaknesses horribly exposed in a deserved defeat
Sept 8 Sunderland 1 (1) Fleetwood Town 1 (1) Huffed and puffed against very difficult opponents
Sept 4 Sunderland 0 (0) [4] Stoke City U21s 0 (0) [2] *Decent workout for young guns and recoverees
Sept 1 Sunderland 1 (0) Oxford United 1 (1 ) Poor first half, dug in well second
Aug 19 Sunderland 3 (3) Scunthorpe United 0 (0) Iron pummeled as three lusty blows delivered
Aug 16 Carabao Cup: Sunderland (0) 0 Sheffield Wednesday (1) 2 Result disappointing but plenty to enthuse about
Aug 11 Luton Town (0) 1 Sunderland (1) 1 Played well in patches against solid opposition
Aug 4 Sunderland (0) 2 Charlton Athletic (1) 1 A great day for club and academy
July 21 St Mirren (0) 0 Sunderland (2) 6* Cracking results like this will suit fine
July 17 Grimsby Town (0) Sunderland (1) 1*Gooch’s header from Maguire’s cross settles matters
July 14 Hartlepool United (1) 1 Sunderland (0) 1 Yet to see anything to inspire confidence
July 10 Darlington (1) 1 Sunderland (0) 0 Embarrassing
4 thoughts on “Sixer’s Manchester City Seven: one step from Wembley”
A decent performance without pulling up trees. Could easily have had 4 or 5 with some great chances late on but for 60+ minutes City showed so much quality on the ball without being able to create a real threat, which is credit to our defending.
A couple of gripes, though:
Both goals came from McGeouch playing really good passes forward. By my reckoning they were 2 of only 4 passes forward by him all night. His first instinct when he gets the ball is always to turn backwards and City started reading this last night and nearly caught him out. He is a much better and more creative player than his negative instincts allow him to be. By all means, retain the ball and, often, this will mean turning away from his marker but if would just mix it up a bit he would be so much harder to read.
Kimpioka is really promising but, like the first incarnation of Watmore, I hope the staff are working with him on having a plan B which involves passing the ball. Again, if the defender doesn’t know whether he is going to run at him then it has more impact when he does. At the moment, I think he is a great option for tired defences in the last 20 but I wouldn’t be looking to start him in any senior games yet.
But the “real deal” is one thing you appear not to be, Brian,.
Are you, in fact, the same Brian from whose e-mail address your comments are sent? That Brian implied not, when invited to write a full considered piece setting out the case against the owners, Ross and the team, if in slightly ambiguous terms (‘I don’t know who you are’).
Or have you hijacked a friend or acquaintance’s e-mail address? Maybe the Life of Brian is the Lives of Brian.
And did you ever live in Northern Ireland? There used to be someone, whose name I have forgotten, who’d write regularly to the Football Echo from Bangor or Larne or somewhere to slag off Reid and the team when we were winning for fun.
Thanks Brian. And there was I thinking that I had quite enjoyed last nights game. I bet you are looking forward to a “No Deal” Brexit.
Keep up the good work.
Great. We managed a win against a team of bairns in a competition that has as much credibility as a subbuteo game in a leper colony. Words like ‘cracks’, ‘papering over’ spring to mind.
When ozturk is man of the match one has to scratch ones head at the competition.
Mr insipid will once again become the love child of guardiola and klopp.
Charlie and donald continue to mooch around wigan hoping they will flog off grigg for an insulting sum while they use the expected maja funds to pay back short. Grift3rs of the world unite.
Looking increasingly like we will be buying another injured player who is going to take weeks/months to get to fitness. Lets hope he isnt a dud like wyke
Have faith lads, they implore. We painted the pink seats red and we listen to the fans..ipso facto we are the real deal.
A decent performance without pulling up trees. Could easily have had 4 or 5 with some great chances late on but for 60+ minutes City showed so much quality on the ball without being able to create a real threat, which is credit to our defending.
A couple of gripes, though:
Both goals came from McGeouch playing really good passes forward. By my reckoning they were 2 of only 4 passes forward by him all night. His first instinct when he gets the ball is always to turn backwards and City started reading this last night and nearly caught him out. He is a much better and more creative player than his negative instincts allow him to be. By all means, retain the ball and, often, this will mean turning away from his marker but if would just mix it up a bit he would be so much harder to read.
Kimpioka is really promising but, like the first incarnation of Watmore, I hope the staff are working with him on having a plan B which involves passing the ball. Again, if the defender doesn’t know whether he is going to run at him then it has more impact when he does. At the moment, I think he is a great option for tired defences in the last 20 but I wouldn’t be looking to start him in any senior games yet.
But the “real deal” is one thing you appear not to be, Brian,.
Are you, in fact, the same Brian from whose e-mail address your comments are sent? That Brian implied not, when invited to write a full considered piece setting out the case against the owners, Ross and the team, if in slightly ambiguous terms (‘I don’t know who you are’).
Or have you hijacked a friend or acquaintance’s e-mail address? Maybe the Life of Brian is the Lives of Brian.
And did you ever live in Northern Ireland? There used to be someone, whose name I have forgotten, who’d write regularly to the Football Echo from Bangor or Larne or somewhere to slag off Reid and the team when we were winning for fun.
Thanks Brian. And there was I thinking that I had quite enjoyed last nights game. I bet you are looking forward to a “No Deal” Brexit.
Keep up the good work.
Great. We managed a win against a team of bairns in a competition that has as much credibility as a subbuteo game in a leper colony. Words like ‘cracks’, ‘papering over’ spring to mind.
When ozturk is man of the match one has to scratch ones head at the competition.
Mr insipid will once again become the love child of guardiola and klopp.
Charlie and donald continue to mooch around wigan hoping they will flog off grigg for an insulting sum while they use the expected maja funds to pay back short. Grift3rs of the world unite.
Looking increasingly like we will be buying another injured player who is going to take weeks/months to get to fitness. Lets hope he isnt a dud like wyke
Have faith lads, they implore. We painted the pink seats red and we listen to the fans..ipso facto we are the real deal.