madras

We were Ok, they were bad then realised they had to push on. How was Diame still on the pitch ? Gayle/Diame doesn't work.

Dont get what he's meant to do. Looks like he doesnt either He's been s**** in front of goal but generally speaking I think he's been fine. What else is he in the team for but to score goals? He doesn't run, he creates nothing. He's in to link the play and follow up to Gayle which he's doing fine. End product just isn't there. He hasn't linked much up either though.

We're playing OK, they are just really, really bad.

Bewwwww!

Ouch! Ha!

Wrong line up IMO. We'll see, hope he rams my scepticism down my throat.

We need to play to our strengths and not be too concerned about them. Old fashioned big man up front a la QPR please.

Creased. We could put up 2 or 3 teams from the same time frame that would annihilate that heap of s***. The post you quoted has a point. Is the auto windscreen shield still going ?

Are they opening all of Villa park for this ?

Cheers

Had a quick look and didn't see anything, Linky please for a giggle.

I'm almost tempted to sign up to twitter to reply to him. Tweet 1. No I'm a QPR fan and the mags were louder, bestest away following I've ever seen. Tweet 2. Fancy us to beat Villa at the weekend.

Because in the game that is for Sunderland fans, they have to somehow show they are superior to us in any way they can, pretending to be other clubs fans then slating NUFC is uber clever stuff in their eyes. Didn't even have the intelligence to set up a fake account. Just put "qpr fan" and thought it wouldn't be at all embarrassing.

I get where you are coming from, we've taken too many losses already, but we are still trying to figure a few things out in my mind. We need to first and foremost work out how to approach games, the way we set about things at QPR as opposed to Derby and Bristol was completely different, we got spectacular results from the approach at QPR but at the same time we were efficient and came away with the result we needed at Derby and Bristol playing in a completely different manner. We got it wrong at Fulham by being too negative, Huddersfield are a good team that took their chances at SJP, for me the Wolves was the most disappointing as that was a game we should have won comfortably, a self inflicted defeat down largely to the way we were set up and the personnel choices. We can batter teams in this division, we have the quality to do that as we showed against QPR but sometimes you have to be a little cautious and conservative. Since the Fulham game, Rafa has got our away setup right each time, we are probably ahead of the objective away from home 3 wins out of 4 is an excellent return. I honestly didn't expect us to lose more than 2 games all season at home before the season started especially when we factored in how dominated we were at the tail end of last season on our own patch against superior opposition. So the home form is a bit of a concern right now. Rafa needs to take what is was that made the QPR game so good and translate that into a way we can play at SJP moving forward and keep doing what he is doing away from home. On paper this was always the toughest month of our fixture list, I'll be more than happy if we come out of it in the top two, if we win the next two games (which we are more than capable of) that's a guarantee and I think we are on schedule. Agree with some, disagree with some. Against Derby Diame pushed quite far on with Gayle, seemed more of a 4-4-1-1 than 4-2-3-1, QPR seemed the same formation with players better suited to it. We can batter teams etc...we should only be cautious and conservative in games when we think the opposition can match us, we don't have to go all out, just do what we are good at and let them combat us instead of worrying about the opposition (it's a throwback to Fat Sam).

It's the biggest sunderland forum by a long way with 1000s of members. It's totally representative of their fanbase. Always thought it was their only forum. I'm quite happy to say that the mackems I have as mates think it's as hilarious as we find it.

Don't include Liverpool away on that list. The first half performance was as bad as I've seen us play in the top flight then they took their foot right off the pedal. Sure they had a Euro game later that week.

Sometimes that means you picked the wrong starting 11. I'm sounding horribly negative about him and I don't mean to and I do think he'll get it right but he cost me £30 in bets and £270 in winnings today. Not really. Sometimes you miss chances, have some bad luck or the opposition play well. In which case you need to change it. Rafa does that well (though never before the 60th minute). I hope I haven't given a negative impression of him. He's a genius. A smashing bloke and a football man to his boots. I bloody love him. I wouldn't be posting her if I didn't.... He will need a leader or too on the pitch to make it really really work, but you have a f***ing brilliant manager. Seems more like an honest and open opinion and thanks for it

Sometimes that means you picked the wrong starting 11. I'm sounding horribly negative about him and I don't mean to and I do think he'll get it right but he cost me £30 in bets and £270 in winnings today.

You didn't butt in and good input. At Liverpool I know he changed the team all the time, was he always changing the pattern aswell, even after good results ? Re rotation, there were two schools of thought on it among LFC fans. One, that it motivates players because they know they'll be involved. The other that it demotivates them because no matter how well they play they might end up bring rotated. For me, it worked. So often we finished the season so strong. But then you get the pang that there were a few too many missed opportunities earlier on. But then we might have won those games early season and run out of steam.... I do think his methods did sometimes jar with some 'superstar' footballers. But with a group of players hungry to achieve, like you should have, they should work a treat. No one should doubt him, given his experience. No one is going to turn around and say 'But Ancelloti said this' and 'Mourinho did this' as has been the case with him elsewhere. And, more importantly, he makes players better, which intelligent players will recognise. So many coaches make players worse or they don't improve. Not Rafa. Though he can be brutal as f*** when it comes to binning players off. As for the pattern, it stays the same. (but there is pattern within patterns. There's the famous story of when Ranieri took over at Valencia from him, and he told them to 'defend like Benitez told you.' One of the defenders said, 'But we had five different ways of defending.') But the 4-2-3-1 is sacrosanct (though he'll say with good reason, there are variations within that system). Frustrating as f*** for some who want two strikers up top, but it won't happen. There might be two strikers on the pitch but one will be wide. One wide man will be a quick attacking player, the other will be someone like Dirk Kuyt, out of position nominally, but works his nuts off for the team, tracks back, gets goals. There'll be an unflashy holding mid next to someone who can hit passes. People will clamour for a change sand say 'Put out our best team, forget about how our oppo play and smash them.' Rafa will not do that. He will stick to his system, press high up the pitch, control the game. He hates it when they lose control. The good bits I like, the bad bits I'd like to think he'd learn from and adapt (honestly thought that the last two games before today when we didn't go 4-2-3-1).

Nowt wrong with changing a player or two, it was the change of the whole pattern that drove me mental.

You didn't butt in and good input. At Liverpool I know he changed the team all the time, was he always changing the pattern aswell, even after good results ?

Wonder if he's including himself with that comment ?

They look the same. (Only kidding, not sure everyone will get the joke)

His philosophies and tactics aren't "being seriously questioned", don't go overboard. If someone thinks he's got something wrong it's fair enough to discuss it.

Not really, he was a sub for most of our good run at the end of last season What were the good performances in that run ?