Keir’s Player Ratings: Hull City vs Sunderland. Guess who got 0/10

Jake: 'Q: did we create a single clear-cut chance?' M Salut: 'A: just the one Scocco blazed over in the first half.'
Jake: ‘Q: did we create a single clear-cut chance?’
M Salut: ‘A: just the one Scocco blazed over in the first half.’

Better late than never, our new young contributor Keir Bradwell assesses Sunderland players, man by man, in their – er – unconvincing display at Hull City. Apologies to Hull fans who strayed here expecting to find their winning team marked; it’s a purely SAFC exercise. You may disagree with 0/10 for Cattermole (“excellent first half” suggests otherwise) and the 1/10s but remember these are the views of an angry young fan …



FA Cup Quarter Final Player Ratings: Hull City 3 – 0 Sunderland

I’m not very happy this week.

Oscar Ustari: 7

Saved a poor penalty, made some excellent saves all-round. Couldn’t do anything at all for any of the goals. Had a shaky first few minutes but looked composed, good in their air and his performance was generally a confidence-boosting one. Man of the Match (for us).

Phil Bardsley: 3

I really hoped Bardsley would show the desire to make up for the cup final loss, but instead his performance was lacklustre, and without any real intent to get forward like a full-back should. Poor.

John O’Shea: 1

Completely at fault for the opening, game-killing, first goal. Gave away a free kick, and then completely failed to track his man from the cross. This isn’t the first time O’Shea’s fallen asleep at a corner, either. A really frustrating performance from our captain. Shocking.

Santiago Vergini:
5

I was fearing the worst when he started over Wes Brown, but, in comparison to everyone else, at least, he fared well. Made some decent clearances and didn’t make a cataclysmic error as he did against Arsenal, but was otherwise completely ineffective. Average.

Andrea Dossena: 1

Andrea Dossena has to be one of the worst signings I’ve witnessed at Sunderland. What he lacks in pace, he tries to make up for with hideous crunching tackles that make you cringe with the fear of red cards. Mind you, him being sent off wouldn’t harm the team. Last time he got sent off, we were down to nine men, and we still didn’t let any goals in. Made, as usual, some abysmal crosses after attacking far too far forward, before retreating with the pace of a snail into the centre-back position. Abysmal.

Lee Cattermole: 0

Lee Cattermole was excellent in the first half. He sprayed passes around like he was Xavi, finding Giaccherini time after time and holding off Hull brilliantly. His second half though, was the worst half of football I have ever, ever, seen from him. At fault directly for the second goal with a terrible high kick against David Meyler, he then tried to run back where his lack of pace was exposed and immediately Sunderland were 2-0 down. We all know what happened with the third. Genuinely the worst pass-back I’ve ever seen gave away the third goal and sealed, comprehensively, our exit from the cup. All good work that he did in the first half was overwhelmingly undone in the second. Horrific.

Jack Colback: 4

Jack Colback has never been able to perform as well as he did in the second 0-3 Tyne-Wear derby. A shadow of that performance again, I can’t help but feel he needs a rest. Ineffectual.

Seb Larsson: 3

Gave away a penalty, otherwise disappeared. Completely ineffectual like everyone else and contributed nothing. Weak.

Emanuele Giaccherini: 4

Giaccherini had a good first half, although his second was below-par, like everyone else. I still see something in him, but today wasn’t his finest. He created some chances, but of a low quality and his effort waned with his performance. Underwhelming.

Steven Fletcher: 1

Fletcher put zero effort into the game, making no runs, attacking no balls, and generally did absolutely nothing. Really, really poor performance from someone who was supposed to be the answer to our goal-scoring problems. Instead, he is our goal-scoring problem. Lazy.

Ignacio Scocco: 2

Sometimes I find it easier to judge a player based on a series of questions. Here is how I got to Scocco’s rating of two. Did Ignacio Scocco get chances? Yes. Did Ignacio Scocco control those chances, in any way, shape or form? No. Did Ignacio Scocco produce anything throughout the entire game? No. Did Ignacio Scocco plant a shot into row Z from just outside the six-yard area? Yes.

Fabio Borini: 5

Had no time, nor the need, to contribute anything. Gets the substitute standard of 5.

Adam Johnson: 5. See Borini.

9 thoughts on “Keir’s Player Ratings: Hull City vs Sunderland. Guess who got 0/10”

  1. As a former member of the goalkeeping brotherhood I take wry smile when people say ‘he saved a poor penalty’.

    IMHO any penalty save is a good one. Well done Oscar ….apart from being caught out by a cross cum shot
    early one he did very well….good handler of the ball.

    • I agree with this, I couldn’t bear to watch the highlights until yesterday and was expecting a penalty a la Januzaj or Rafael, but no. I thought it was struck with some pace and wasn’t such a bad pen. Well done Oscar, I say! The one bright light on a dim day!

    • True. I just thought it lacked pace and direction. For me, if you’re taking a penalty, you either need to send it high (ala Borini) without sending it too high (England), because it’d be virtually impossible to stop, as long as it’s not central. If you’re sending it down low, though, I think it needs to either be a bullet (it wasn’t) or beautifully placed right in the corner (it wasn’t that, either). Or both.

      Was very impressed with Ustari today though, apart from his wobbly start.

  2. Keir said “Andrea Dossena has to be one of the worst signings I’ve witnessed at Sunderland.”

    Jeff Whitley must be just before your time Keir.

    • He scored in the first game I ever went to. I’m 13. I was 3, I think, at the time. So yes, a bit before my time.
      I weighed this statement up in my head for a while, before deciding that Krygiakos, Mangane, Bridge, Graham and Cabral were all terrible, but not quite Andrea Dossena terrible.

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