Chris_R

Only Callum Wilson could be out for 3 months with a sprained tit.

They leave piles of tickets in places, or with businesses etc They're counted as "sold" even if the place they leave them with just chucks them in the bin, because how can Sunderland know? Those people *might* turn up.

Maybe someone should steal Schar's hairbrush and we can get his DNA and clone him, then our 2044 lineup can just be a Fabian Schar XI? Well, maybe a Schar X. Schar isn't tall enough to play left back, so Dan Burn will still be starting...

I've been to Plymouth away twice, once in fhe FA cup for a 0-0 bore draw, then later in the same season to see us lift the Championship trophy, same match which relegated Plymouth to L1. Considering we relegated them, they were first class. They played us "We are the Champions", completely tolerated our pitch invasion, many stayed back and clapped our team during our promotion walkaround, and were far more gracious as hosts than they had any right to be. For that reason, personally I've always had a soft spot for them ever since and kept an eye on how they've been doing. They were top notch that day. Considering I don't think we've played them since (correct me if I'm wrong!), I'm not sure how they could hate us. Maybe one or 2 fans are salty over us winning the league in their back yard and sending them down, but it certainly didn't come across as the overwhelming feeling of their fanbase on the day. Almost as if the mackems are completely making stuff up? But they wouldn't do that, would they....?

That's just being silly. If we did that, who'd play in midfield?

Not sure if he's the best midfielder I've seen play for us, but he's definitely in the top 1.

And just for the forum police, I'll repeat that I love both Howe and Burn. Howe's worked miracles and Burn seems a great lad. But nobody is above criticism.

There's a difference between a central defender who is quick, agile and can get up and down the pitch like Ake, and Dan Burn. There's no harm in having someone fast, skillful AND tall at fullback, but Howe has decided that height is more important than those other two attributes combined. If it was working, fine. But it isn't. And his continual refusal to address it or even consider doing something different is frustrating. And if it's frustrating for me, I can't even imagine how frustrating it must be for the £65m worth of actual fullbacks we've bought (or committed to buy) who's careers are being wasted because no matter what they do in training they'll never be tall enough and so won't ever be given a chance. And if you think that last point is unfair, tell me the last time a fit and available Dan Burn was not picked to start.

Is it a mystery though? Nobody plays ahead of Dan Burn. It's that simple. Targett couldn't get in, Hall couldn't get in, now Livramento can't get in. Burn is 6'7", so unless someone else manages to train themselves to be 6'8", unlucky, there's nothing they can do to get in the team. There's no mystery, they're just not tall enough.

Well why isn't our right back just as vulnerable? Burn is too slow. He doesn't get outskilled, nobody's sending him the wrong way with a deft feint or the drop of a shoulder, people just knock the ball past him and run, and there's nothing he can do. That's not even something he can work on in training, he'll never be any faster. Yes our midfield could offer more protection to the back line, but Burn being beaten for pace again and again by people just running round him isn't the midfield's fault.

No, he's picking Burn because he's tall. Because we go to a back three when Trippier goes forward. The problem is, Burn is undroppable because nobody else is tall enough to replace him, no matter how badly he gets torn apart match after match. Which is infuriating. You say maybe Howe doesn't see Tino as a left back. Here's news, neither is Burn. He's a centre back who occasionally plays left back. I'd have Targett, Hall and Livramento all ahead of him for left back, but yet Burn keeps all of them out because if his height. In every other respect, the others are better footballers. But they're not tall enough.

On the flip side, we've conceded 7 in those three matches including 4 in one home match, drew at home against Luton Town, Burn's been directly responsible for quite a few goals and the mackems are championship garbage. We've done well of late, sure, but people are right to think there are areas (one especially) where we could greatly improve. There's nothing wrong in pointing that out and being frustrated when changes don't happen. Everyone before today's match said Burn would struggle, and he did. He gave away a goal (others contributed to that, sure) in exactly the way we thought he might. When things are this predictable and this avoidable, people are right to ask questions and feel annoyed.

"And none of those reasons will include enjoying seeing our left side get roasted and conceding goals because of it." And yet, that's what's happening.

It really isn't, when he's so fundamental to us conceding so many goals and chances, and us having no option down the left flank because he's such a slow, limited footballer. It's like if you put an actual dwarf in goal, you couldn't say "it's just one individual selection, so quite a small factor in our results" when teams would mercilessly exploit that game after game.

There isn't though, is there? Livramento, who's looked excellent every time he's played, doesn't play because of Burn Hall, who Chelsea fans were gutted to lose, didn't play because of Burn Targett, Villa's player of the season before he joined us, didn't play because of Burn It's got nothing to do with who the other player is, or their fitness or availability, he just insists on playing Burn no matter what. And TBH I can't see that changing, because he's shown no sign at all of wanting to change it. It's like he thinks this is some kind of tactical masterplan, us going 3 at the back when Trippier goes up, like there's no way we can deviate from that, no way we can play differently. Even though literally every other team in the world manages to play without a giant left back, and despite how shaky Burn is against pace. Love Eddie, love Burn frankly too, but this stubbornness in the face of clear evidence is awful and he needs to try something else. But he won't.

Burn can only be in for his height, in every other respect he's a worse player than Livramento. So the answer is "be taller than Dan Burn", which is fairly tricky. I'd be fucking livid if I was in Livramento's position and I was being blocked from playing simply because I wasn't tall enough. Normally at least you can ask the manager what you can work on, but "grow 12 inches" feels somewhat unachievable. Especially for a position that doesn't normally need height.

Oh look, Burn destroyed for pace and we concede. Again. Who could possibly have foreseen that?

I think the Burn issues is that Howe doesn't want to be seen to drop a player because of fan backlash. He doesn't want the players to think the fans pick the team, or for the fans to think they can pick the team. The problem is, Burn deserves dropping. And has been holding us back for a while. So if he won't drop a player who's had a stinker and the fans have got on their back, then he's also not going to drop him if he plays well (as he is capable of), so we're left with either waiting for Burn to get injured, or waiting for him to play badly and the fans NOT have go. That latter isn't going to happen, and Burn seems the fittest player at the club, probably because he's largely incapable of running at any speed. The other issue is even when he DID get injured, he just walked straight back into the team, seemingly his height is all-important - so I guess our other 3 players who can play left back are left waiting until Burn stops being tall.

Really? When did he last not play a fully fit and available Dan Burn?

People criticise because they want things to be better. You can complain without being unhappy. Comments in a match thread, as has been said, are based on people's passion and emotional investment into what's happening. Nobody is going to think in the heat of the moment "Oh it's OK, he's a human being who's trying his best" when someone misses an open goal or whatever. And to be honest, I don't want our fans to be like that. We NEED passion. Sure, step back and calm down afterwards, but in the moment? I don't want us to be robots dispassionately accepting people's faults, not here and definitely not at the match. There's a line of course, nobody should be berated as an individual. I was massively critical of Dan Burn during the Luton match but that's critical of his limitations as a footballer. I would never make that a personal attack and it should never become one. But it's absolutely fair and valid to say "Player X is shit at this particular thing" or even "he should never play there again because we have better options". And in the heat of the moment, a misplaced pass or shot can 100% be called out and castigated without that affecting our overall view of a player. Moments turn matches.

Not sure anyone hates him, or even dislikes him. He seems like a great bloke. He comes across really well, talks well, seems intelligent and works hard. He's a local lad living the dream, and he's been integral to the last 2 years where he's done a lot of good stuff. He has a unique attribute in being massive that can really help us out in some circumstances. However, it's become clear his deficiencies are too large to carry him in the team and without the protection of a strong midfield and a willing runner ahead of him who can track back, he's too exposed. Nothing wrong in people pointing that out.

Trippier had a loss of form, from being otherwise fantastic. There was a very high chance he'd come out the other side of a bad patch. Burn's problem is he's really, really slow. He's always been really, really slow and will never get any faster. As others have said, previously we've had players who can get back and help him out. Recently that's not been the case and that's why he gets rinsed.

Especially as we bought Targett, have Hall on loan and Livramento has played excellently there. Burn keeps getting picked despite there being better options, seemingly just because he's tall. Must be infuriating being one of the other lads and being unable to get a game despite knowing you're clearly a better footballer. Normally a player can go to the manager and ask what they need to improve on, but 'be taller than Dan Burn' isn't really something they can go away and work on.

Burn pulled his shoulder. Probably one of the most blatant fouls you'll see. You can argue the player could have stayed on his feet but that's irrelevant, once Burn pulls him, every player will go to ground and rightly so. I'd expect ours to do the same.

In the match thread, there were plenty of comments from people very surprised / disappointed that he came out for the second half. Today's result was entirely avoidable.