Sunderland v Leeds Utd Match Thread

[1964white]

No doubt, the ref was $hite, Leon! Very biased to the home team as many were saying throughout on this thread. Definitely affected us, but we needed to find a way out and didn’t.

When I was watching the game live, I thought Sunderland were spreading their fouls around, they committed 12 fouls, 10 of them cynical & bookable, we fouled 8 times & all three of our yellow cards were correct imo, but how did the mackems getaway with just one booking when potentially there was a case for two reds.

How often do we witness a player scores a winning goal, when he shouldn't even be on the pitch?

[1964white]

Summary

Minute
3rd Summerville taken out by Seelt.

4th Summerville whips in a wicked ball that was heading for the top corner, saved by Patterson.

6th Decent move involving Spence & Rutter, Piroe slow to react to Georginio's good cross.

13th Clarke dribbled past James & Gray to win a corner.

15th Poor challenge by Huggins on Georginio.

19th Shot deflected from Spence.

23rd Kamara fouled from behind by Bellingham.

25th Late challenge from Bellingham on ???

29th Struijk tackle on the line to deny a certain goal.

30th Another contender for 'save of the season' from Meslier.

33rd Bad foul tackle on Summerville by Hume.

37th Rodon by Bellingham for a header that goes narrowly wide.

39th First yellow card to O'Nien for a another bad challenge from Sunderland.

57th Georginio fouled by Bellingham

64th Ampadu booked for pulling back Pritchard.

70th James booked for impeding a player.

71st What was that note Pritchard & Roberts handing about?

72nd Excellent break from Kamara onto Summerville whose shot was saved.

73rd Kamara pulled back by O'Nien

75th Anthony on for James. Gnonto for Rutter.

77th Poor header out from Pascal, Archie ball watching & plays Bellingham onside. GOAL

81st Spence fouled by ??

82nd Bamford on for Kamara, Joseph for Spence.

85th Gnonto fouled by Clarke.

87th Piroe shot cleared off the line.

90th 5 minutes added-on time,

If you omit the highlighted fouls & the substitutions, from the 40th to 95th minutes, nothing happened for long periods of the game, apart from their goal & Summerville/Piroe's shots.

[Chilli D]

If you omit the highlighted fouls & the substitutions, from the 40th to 95th minutes, nothing happened for long periods of the game, apart from their goal & Summerville/Piroe's shots.

A draw would have been a fair result. Neither side looked like winning it until they scored.

[1964white]

A draw would have been a fair result. Neither side looked like winning it until they scored.

Yes, but we are always vulnerable to concede soft/scruffy goals as we appear wide open, whereas Sunderland were very compact at the back, even with Piroe's half-chance, they had two defenders on the goal-line to clear the danger.

The goals in games where we have chucked ten points away against Birmingham, Stoke, Rotherham & Sunderland were all avoidable.

[Overman]

I’m so sorry, Leon. I’ve been listening to the YouTube commentators to try and find something positive to take away from that debacle, but it’s hard. Reminded me too much of Marsch’s Forest match.

Main point is that Farke needs to start rotating his squad more and, if players aren’t working out, sub them out quicker. The tempo and patterns of play have been extremely predictable of late and we’re going to face that same set up from opponents more and more if he doesn’t adjust. Lots of tired legs on the pitch out there. Willy belonged out there sooner for James and Spence should’ve stayed on for me…perhaps even switching with Archie to free him up. Also thought Ampadu should’ve come off instead of Kamara (Ampadu was on a yellow and Kamara was actually trying to create out there, albeit unsuccessfully at times). Think Farke played “afraid to lose” and his fears got the best of him…

I would agree, but Farke needs a better squad to be able to rotate effectively. Looking at our bench there's only really Gononto and limited options. It's a case at present, that bringing on subs has very little impact. Our CM's look tired and need rotating, but who do we replace them with, Gruev? The Archie experiment needs a line drawing under it, and play him where he belongs. I've got a feeling January will be crucial for us.

[1964white]

I would agree, but Farke needs a better squad to be able to rotate effectively. Looking at our bench there's only really Gononto and limited options. It's a case at present, that bringing on subs has very little impact. Our CM's look tired and need rotating, but who do we replace them with, Gruev? The Archie experiment needs a line drawing under it, and play him where he belongs. I've got a feeling January will be crucial for us.

I agree.

Ipswich made five changes at Watford & still won after going one down.

We made three changes at Stoke, which was worse than the Tuesday night's performance.

We need signings in five positions in my opinion, we'll be lucky if we acquire two newbies.

[JoeDenver]

If you omit the highlighted fouls & the substitutions, from the 40th to 95th minutes, nothing happened for long periods of the game, apart from their goal & Summerville/Piroe's shots.

You could fill in the spaces/gaps with “lots of backpassing by Leeds”

[Cjay]

I think he has made a huge difference. It would have been very easy to have had a complete hangover season and do nothing. A lot of players were on their knees confidence wise, Messlier, Struyjk and Rutter to name 3. He has got Dan James and Summerville playing well consistently and having end product. From a man-management point of view he has gelled the team. Transfers wise he has done pretty well. Signing Rodon, Spence, Ampadu, Piroe, Byram, Kamara, Gurev and Darlow has been pretty successful, 5 of them I would describe as good signings and the other 3 we havent really seen enough of yet to judge, Performance wise we have played some excellent football and yes we have some exciting players but he has also been brave enough to play 4 attacking players as well as having attack minded fullbacks. I think barring the Bielsa football the style of football is better than anything in the last 20+ years.

I think he has a calmness that could be a crucial factor if we get to the end of the season in a pressurised situation. I would contrast his demeanour to Arteta's which I felt contributed hugely to Arsenal imploding last season.

I think his man management is very decent I agree on that.

He seems to have given confidence to people like Rutter and James and helped Summerville grow as a player.

I think he has done OK with people like Struijk and Meslier, all be it they are still a bit iffy.

I have no issue with his man management.

I find his squad use poor, I think his failure to rotate directly lead to performances like Sunderland. I think as I've mentioned before his style away from home is a problem collectively at times and individually.

I think his unwillingness or inability to adapt in game is a problem, he is often very slow to react to games and his subs seem pre planned

I don't think it gets the best out of Piroe and in fact I think the slow build up and lack of passing lanes as a consequence is part of the issue and that is his fault.

May be in the minority but whilst occasionally some decent passing moves occur I think its largely dictated by Summerville or Rutter doing something brilliant hence why when they are marked out and struggling he doesn't seem to have an alternative.

I find the style very boring quite a bit, very slow and plodding which given our biggest strength is our attack and quick transition very strange.

I think as a man manager he is fine but I personally think you can see more and more why he has struggled as a top level coach.

[JoeDenver]

I would agree, but Farke needs a better squad to be able to rotate effectively. Looking at our bench there's only really Gononto and limited options. It's a case at present, that bringing on subs has very little impact. Our CM's look tired and need rotating, but who do we replace them with, Gruev? The Archie experiment needs a line drawing under it, and play him where he belongs. I've got a feeling January will be crucial for us.

I agree Overman. We need an LB which would allow us to not rely on Byram as much (and be done with Firpo). But I think Gruev should’ve been a substitute in this one. He has to be more bedded into this squad by now…and his last few cameos have been encouraging. And Gruev has a unique, if tricky, way of passing that no one in our squad has. That could’ve been the key to unlock them. And Ampadu looked tired shortly after the break, which is understandable.

Truly thought Gruev and Gnonto needed to come on in the 60th minute and Gray and Spence needed to switch sides shortly after the break. That would’ve minimized the concern with Clarke and Gray’s yellow card, while also mitigating some of the clashing with Spence and Summerville. And if that didn’t work, then you throw the Hail Mary with Paddy and Joseph.

Farke might not have his ideal weapons on the bench. But he has certain useful tools and the ability to use subs. He’s just been reluctant, if not stubbornly opposed, to using them. And that’s the main gripe. The result was avoidable, irrespective of the weather and the shoddy ref. Here’s hoping Farke learns from this one.

[1964white]

You could fill in the spaces/gaps with “lots of backpassing by Leeds”

So frustrating when we are chasing a game.

We seem to have only one way of playing, even the top PL clubs play more direct when necessary.

[Overman]

I agree Overman. We need an LB which would allow us to not rely on Byram as much (and be done with Firpo). But I think Gruev should’ve been a substitute in this one. He has to be more bedded into this squad by now…and his last few cameos have been encouraging. And Gruev has a unique, if tricky, way of passing that no one in our squad has. That could’ve been the key to unlock them. And Ampadu looked tired shortly after the break, which is understandable.

Truly thought Gruev and Gnonto needed to come on in the 60th minute and Gray and Spence needed to switch sides shortly after the break. That would’ve minimized the concern with Clarke and Gray’s yellow card, while also mitigating some of the clashing with Spence and Summerville. And if that didn’t work, then you throw the Hail Mary with Paddy and Joseph.

Farke might not have his ideal weapons on the bench. But he has certain useful tools and the ability to use subs. He’s just been reluctant, if not stubbornly opposed, to using them. And that’s the main gripe. The result was avoidable, irrespective of the weather and the shoddy ref. Here’s hoping Farke learns from this one.

Absolutely, well said.