The Observer came calling again. Pete Sixsmith not only had to endure comic defending by Sunderland. he then had to write about it. Poor Mark Hughes, yes. But poor, poor Pete …
Pete Sixsmith, salutsunderland.com Don’t for one minute think that this was a game full of sparkling attacking football – it wasn’t. It was full of poor defending. All four City goals came down our right-hand side where Nyron Nosworthy had the nightmare of all nightmares. McCartney was little better and we must have the worst pair of full-backs in the Premier League. When we attacked City they wobbled but our final ball was not consistent – we gave it away far too cheaply, and to lump it up far too quickly.
The fan’s player ratings: Fulop 6; Nosworthy 2, Turner 7, Mensah 7 (Healy 76 4), McCartney 3; Reid 6; Campbell 5 (Richardson 59 5), Henderson 7, Cattermole 6, Malbranque 5 (Jones 40 6); Bent 7.
Robert O’Brien, Observer reader We were lucky to win. We’re not showing the form or class that can take us into the top six let alone the top four, but we looked a lot better with Santa Cruz up front as the target man, with Tevez buzzing around him. I think Hughes should go and I know we’ll get pilloried in the press for being ruthless but if you ask any City fans they’ll say he’s not generated any sort of buzz or enthusiasm. Mancini is not who I’d have picked but the next boss would definitely not have a British passport.
The fan’s player ratings: Given 6; Richards 6 (Zabaleta 21 5), Onuoha 6, Touré 6, Sylvinho 6; Ireland 6, Barry 6, Wright-Phillips 5 (Kompany 52 6), Bellamy 8; Tevez 7, (Petrov 86 n/a), Santa Cruz 8