Unbelievable

Yeah, what's going on there? First home game back in the Premiership, you'd imagine it'd be packed. There's even more empty seats than you normally see at Sunderland.

Fat Sam: "First half performance very very good, and we were very comfortable." Wat?

Fat Sam

All I can say to that is thank fuck you weren't around on here when we were managed by the likes of Souness and Fat Sam. If you call this constant bitching about his tactics trust and support I dread to think how you would hold up with a genuinely tactically clueless manager.

It's like last season never happened.

Aye, about as silly as suggesting 4-4-2 doesn't allow movement or running into space. Ours doesn't( not every 4-4-2), i have seen us use it enough times using 4-4-2 and see the lack of movement and chance creating and just overall passing options to suggest this. Again, we didn't even play a traditional 4-4-2. Or did you fail to spot Ben Arfa roaming all over the pitch, Jonas sitting deep alongside Anita and Ba dropping into the midfield regularly? In fact, it was more like 4-3-1-2 with Ben Arfa roaming and Ba dropping deep. You can talk about getting the best out of Cabaye, Ba and Cisse in other systems all day long, but considering Cabaye had trouble lifting corners 3 feet of the ground and Cisse looks like a pale shade of his normal self it's fair to say our rustiness was more down to match fitness issues than anything tactical.

Which 4-4-2 doesn't allow because of how simplistic it is and all about rigid movements and lack of midfield options and doesn't allow the movement you describe. Ben Arfa had the freedom to roam all over the pitch today. Also, Jonas was way more central than your average left midfield player in a 4-4-2. And then there was Ba, who dropped so deep to be involved in the build up play he sometimes popped up deeper than our midfield. This might not suit your simplistic 4-4-2 vs 4-3-3 argument, but it's true nevertheless. We lost today because we gave away a stupid penalty at a time when we were fairly confortable defending deep and trying to hit them on the break. Then they scored a wonder goal on the brink of half time and it was game over. Do you really think another system would have prevented these incidents to happen?

We didn't even play a classic 4-4-2 today, but don't let the facts get in the way of a good old moaning session..

Yep

Ba should have scored..

Delivery!

Better delivery straight away..

Raylor on for Simpson

HBA

Cabaye's corners

Fuck

FFS Anita

Lukaku looks a real handful

No Tiote

FFS, Spurs score a flukey, deflected goal..

shit goalkeeping

Same

WBA looking the better side at the moment.

Vidic own goal

Defoe offside.. Phew..