Malcolm Dawson writes….the one ray of hope that I’m clinging to, at a time when so many seem to have written us off, is that I believe we have a better squad than several of the teams around us and we still have most of those teams to play at the Stadium of Light. It’s not often I play the role of the glass half full man and today’s match was one where three points would have begun the steady upward climb that I’m still convinced will come. So it’s disappointing that we only got one and another game where the team showed their inability to put the ball in the net is I admit worrying. But the performance demonstrated that we can outperform the likes of West Ham, who are no worse than Crystal Palace, Fulham, Hull, Stoke, Cardiff, Norwich etc. Poyet too seems upbeat with today’s effort and praises his team and asks the fans to share his pride in his players. It will be interesting to see what kind of side he picks on Tuesday with a crucial league game against Norwich coming up next weekend. Anyway, here are the manager’s thoughts in his post match e-mail.
Dear Colin,
That was our best performance, even if we didn’t win. It was better than the game against Aston Villa, it was better than Manchester City because it was for 94 minutes. We know what we need to do – we need to score a goal. We had one on ones, crossbar, saves from the goalkeeper but that’s the way. I was saying before to the players that the first-half team on the pitch – that’s my team.
There’s always a part that the opposition has to play but overall in terms of understanding, in terms of positioning, seeing what the opposition is doing and what we can do, today was the best [so far]. We must build on the draw, that’s the only way. That’s the only thing we ask of the players. It has to be every day now because we proved today that it’s possible. It’s something that we’ve been building and something we’ve been doing better, so let’s keep doing it.
We’ve been here for two months now and the idea is that I want to see this every week; that’s the challenge for the players. They know now that we can do it so we need to challenge ourselves every week and do it all the time.
I wanted to go over to the away fans and celebrate a victory. They should be proud of the team they watched today.
All the best,
Gus Poyet
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Sorry Plan B but Roberge is very poor. You just want to see him again because after he’s been missing for a few weeks you’ve forgotten that.
Sadly and here is the brutal truth. There is nobody in the squad or U21s who can make a difference to this team: nobody and that’s the reason (we only need one!) to chase this bloke with the Boris Johnson hairdo all the way to the airport after he has been in the stocks to face a few putrified tomatoes and eggs.
Poyet will get this right. I’ve never been more sure of a manager since Durban.
Have to disagree about Roberge Jeremy. Admittedly I’ve only seen him a couple of times but that was in the flesh and not on TV. From what I’ve seen he looks assured on the ball, his positional sense is good and he could become a good player for us given the chance. His one blip was in his first match and I’ll admit it was costly, losing his man against Fulham but he is not as bad as you make out.
As for tonight. I think I’d rather we won, got to Wembley and got relegated, rather than lost and stay up. The reality of football today is that Sunderland will never make the top 4 in my lifetime and as a fan I want to see my team win trophies not make loads of money. I enjoy going to the games more in the lower division because more teams are actually competing for something. Naturally that opinion is not shared by the owner,and although privately it may be the manager’s view, Poyet knows his priority is to ensure top flight football.
I’m slightly surprised Brown is starting re. fitness but for a league game he’d be first on the team sheet. I think you’re a little harsh on Roberge, with foreign players you always have to give them a little time to find their feet. Or head in some cases.
I’m a little young for Durban’s era but I’ve heard that said by plenty of fans too. But that’s another reason not to dismiss some of these players, we have a real manager at last and he can do good things with the right squad. Roberge though not quick looks decent on the ball and Poyet will like that.
Steve Clarke’s your best bet now
Interesting to be reminded that Poyet and his team have only been here for 2 months – feels a lot longer than that given what he’s achieved, and the di Canio days relegated to the dim and distant past. The worry is whether we can turn good play into goals. Bent’s consistency in front of goal a few seasons ago kept us up, but disguised other weaknesses. Here we have a good style of play developing. Will it translate into points in time? My head says “yes”, but it’s hard to give up the habit of expecting the worst.
Nice to see some optimism Malcolm. Been wondering about cup team this morning as well. Wrap Brown up in cotton wool, bring Dossena and Roberge in. Start with Altidore, plays better against better sides. Next week finally play Borini up front with Fletch hopefully. Midfield is anyone’s guess in both games.
I’ve a feeling we may see Cabral or Mavrias starting as well as Roberge and Dossena, together with Johnson and Fletcher. Much as I’d love to see us progress to Wembley the Norwich game could be the biggest of the season in maintaining Premiership status. Win and I think we’ll be safe. Lose and the struggle could become too much. A draw won’t be enough.
With Chelsea potentially still going for 4 trophies I can’t see their first choice XI starting either but we all know the depth of quality they have. Still we have a chance if Demba Ba starts.