John McCormick writes: no-one expected much from this game after Sam played it down, which was just as well, I suppose. I did think we were going to score a second but then I realized it was Danny Graham against Petr Cech.
Pete Sixsmith appears to think similarly; here is his instant seven-word verdict, straight after the final whistle.
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 West Bromwich Albion 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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On a lighter note, lovely to see his Sixership and M Salut at the match. Safe journey back to France Colin.
Now I may be just a doddery old fool, but after 50 mins (ish) I said to my son “did Danny Graham come on at half time”?. “No, he’s been on since the start” was the reply. Enough said.
Doesn’t hurt getting knocked out of the cup by Arsenal, but yet more alarm bells ringing over shocking defending! Their second and third goals were embarrassingly easy. How does any striker get 2 yards of clear space on our six yard line? And how does a simple pass elude 4 defenders for another tap-in?
Meanwhile, I don’t care who’s injured or needs resting, but how does Danny Graham continue to get on the pitch? Could any youngster from the U21 squad possibly be worse? Picking a random fan from the terraces and lending them some ill-fitting boots would be as useful a tactic as giving this bloke a game. Amongst all the things I’ve agreed with about Sam’s regime so far, his continuing selection of Graham just has me baffled.
Last thing we needed was a replay ,though I wouldn’t have minded an easier home draw for a bit of practice for the second string if we’d got through .No guarantee of that so I suppose its for the best , sadly .
From what I saw today (online, dodgy stream) the lads didn’t let us down, they gave it a good go. But is it a good idea to play in camouflaged strips? You could hardly see them against the grass.
The present one has to be the worst away strip ever! Bilious green! Who chose it?
Thank god that’s out of the way and we can concentrate on what’s important.