TRon

At least Howe had the sense to get him off relatively early once it became clear we weren't getting anything. Thought it was a mistake to start him tbh, but hopefully he's not felt any after effects and he'll be closer to full fitness after a run out.

We couldn't even compete with them physically today, never mind technically. But you need a midfield to do that, and all our players who can motor a bit have been missing most of the season.

Another predictable anonymous performance.

How we've missed you.

I knew he would get blamed for the goals but there really wasn't much he could have done on those. I'd like to see him keep his place tbh, he looked decent enough before we opened the floodgates.

Good lad Joe. Nice work from Barnes and Burn as well.

They are just deliveries aimed at the near post. However good the delivery they shouldn't be that hard to defend.

Do you honestly think any other Europe chasing side would allow them to look that good?

Botman should have cleared it, wasn't really bad luck.

Obviously the commentators are having a wankfest over Arsenal's performance - and they are good at the moment - but pretty sure we are making them look a lot better than they are. We lack pace in too many areas of the pitch and the players know it. They have looked beaten from the first whistle.

No.

If you'd asked most people on here which player would be totally overwhelmed by the game most would have said Longstaff.

There aren't that many leaders in this 11. Certainly not in midfield.

Karius has been the only bright spot for us.

We really miss them.

We've barely got the ball in their half. Only way he's touching it is if he drops into our penalty area.

Going to be a long night.

Would be equally surprised and curious about Karius starting tonight. Feels like he's never really got a fair crack here but at the same time he doesn't really inspire confidence either. Might not be the worst game to chuck him in considering we probably aren't likely to get anything regardless.

I pray to all the gods that the Sunderland 'til I Die smash hit tv series will be getting another season covering this campaign as well.

Same as above. If we were planning on keeping him, I just think we'd have used him a lot more. There's no way he is so bad that it makes more sense to run players to a standstill rather than bring him on to freshen things up during a phase when we are ravaged by injuries to begin with.

If that was the case I'm pretty sure we'd have used him more.

Ediie keeps getting the digs in I love it.

Whatever. if Howe doesn't rate him I'd rather just take the loan fee hit and use the remaining money to sign someone we'll actually use.

Not really my first emotion I must admit.

That would be the most pointless clause ever considering we were a CL club at the time of signing him. Can't believe that for a second. Personally I think if the deal was a foregone conclusion we'd be using him a lot more.