clintdempsey

They look OK. We look like we’ve had a case of Broon each. Both Tino and Tripps look a bit lost position-wise this far - both been caught a bit high a few times. Let’s just contain them for a bit and go for the killer blow in the second half.

Kim Hellberg is an interesting one. Done wonders at a small club and there've been rumors that he was going to Hammarby (one of the biggest clubs in Sweden). His brand of football is nice as well, high intensity and possession-based. If given time he'd (unfortunately) be a good signing for Sunderland I'd think.

The thing about one of the reasons for moving being financials could still be true. In terms of FFP a new stadium wouldn’t make “that” much of a difference. A good player sale would do wonders though. In terms of UEFA’s profits and sustainability rules though we need to get the annual revenues up to be able to increase our salaries (=attract even better players and keeping our best ones).

I’ve got no issues with the 8 mins added on. We wasted quite a bit of time in the second half tbh. The penalty call though? Fuck me.

Tino FUCKING Livramento. Top player, top name. Love him.

He’s awesome. Such a classy player. The thing is he’s been so good the last few games that there’s no sense in “easing” him in this season. He’ll be in the team on merit. A diamond has truly been unearthed.

Oh, I agree. Ramsdale is not an upgrade. I was just mentioning the “upgrade on all areas” part. All keepers have their weaknesses - just need to find one who fits the team profile and to be able to truly dominate possession in both an attacking and energy-saving way we need someone who’s better than Pope with the ball at his feet. The amount of times he kicks it straight out of play or to an opponent is not really sustainable for where we want to be IMO. For now though he’s good. And for where we were he was great.

It’s almost impossible to improve all areas in regards to Pope IMO. He’s as good a shot stopper as they come, and is also a really good sweeper keeper (with a few mistakes in him as they all have). What can be improved though is passing, control and command of the area. He’s been noticeably more nervous coming for crosses and corners (often punching ‘catchable’ balls in to the box) after a superb first 6-7 months.

I was alright as a youngster. Was football mad from a young age and was out all night every night with my mates. Was terrified of playing with a team at first and quit when I was 8-9 years old only to return a couple of years later. I was a goalkeeper and started playing with the kids a year older than me (due to all my mates being older). That’s when things started to click. I played at the highest national level as a U15-16 player, saved a Johan Elmander penalty (The only game that season he went off the pitch without a goal) and was called up to the national try outs (Halmstad Camp). After that I started getting involved with the first team in my club (who played in the equivalent of the Championship in Sweden) but that was a rough time as a 16 year old. Made a couple of appearances in the second division and was invited to FC Copenhagen to try out for their academy. Fucked a disc in the back playing beach football with mates a week before and that was that. ? I continued playing in the lower divisions after that until I injured my knee aged 35 and decided to call it a day. Still miss it five years later tbh. There’s something a bit special about it. Best football memories would probably be the tournaments (Gothia Cup and so on), playing against and alongside people that actually went a bit further in their careers (Elmander, Ola Toivonen, Marcus Berg to name a few) and to top it off we went on a camp to Newcastle and got to visit the training ground and St James’ as well as playing against some Uni sides back in 2002/03.

Great game for the neutral that. Hilariously bad defending from both sides and to top it off the goal of the game by far was Silva’s own goal - what a finish that was!

Bin Salmelinton of course.

In what way could the medical staff and physios have prepared for or foreseen the types of injuries we’ve had? Broken toe, two types of back injuries (not muscular), Botman’s knee, Murphy’s shoulder (the first time) or Wilson’s chronic muscle injuries? Edit: I guess they could’ve stopped Wilson from playing at all - which would give us the exact same effect as the injuries.

Except Pope, Schär, Tripps, Joelinton, Gordon, Longstaff and Almiron who all started the game. Most on here would have Tino or Hall in the team over Burn as well. We can dress it up anyway we like but this the performance regardless of players missing was poor. A draw would have been OK/Good, a win excellent. That’s not me calling Howe or the players shit by the way. We’ll get there, we’ll learn from this.

Yes, we’re tired. Yes, we have LOADS of injuries. But I don’t find it controversial at all to call a spade a spade - we’ve been horseshit today.

This was my point before the game as well. In isolation a draw away at Bournemouth wouldn’t be the worst result - but we’re looking like a different team away from home, like we don’t really have it in us (the belief) to take the game to the opponent. 1 away win will start to play with our minds eventually along with the leads lost at West Ham and Wolves.

This is bad. Really bad. ? Poor/unfortunate defending and Pope really should have that.

Think Miley has been good. Gordon got better as the half progressed. The rest look really tired. We’re too sloppy in possession for my liking this far and a bit too low as well. Let’s ride this first 15 mins of the second half out and then go for the jugular if it’s still 0-0.

We really could do with a win today tbh. Keep the pressure up on the other CL/EL contenders and also to get an away win which so far have been hard to come by (Sheffield Utd aside). A draw wouldn’t be a disaster in any way, shape or form but a win would set us up nicely before the break.

Great game from Tino after dropping down to FB. He’s got it all for a modern full back and will be even better in a year or two.

I agree that they’ve been good. But not super - I’m not saying we should’ve beaten them home and away but we’ve hardly laid a glove on them - partly because of their quality but also very much from not being used to this. We’ve seemed nervous and have misplaced a hell of a lot of passes (as we did in Milan). We also started the game really deep (too deep imo) and they still cut right through us. It’s all understandable though we haven’t got the players (or experience) for this yet.

Fucking hell. It’s awesome being back in the Champions League and all but we’ve been more poor than good so far in these games unfortunately. It’s not like Dortmund have had to be super good themselves to control us over these two games. Looks like the game against PSG was a one-off (for this season). But we’ll learn from it and get the experience needed to handle these types of situations.

We’re playing like we’re scared shitless to be honest. No conviction at all in our play and sitting too deep.

Poor start tbh. Seem a bit off the pace and all too anxious this far. A bit like the Milan game unfortunately. Hopefully we can pick up soon.

Big Jow. ?