Thiago

To be fair, even Bruce had a 'system' it was just written with a pen from a betting shop on a receipt from a service station. It doesn't necessarily mean complex or even successful. Rather, under Lampard, defenders play much higher up the field and they're asked to build out from the back. That's easier said than done as shown by the contrasting fortunes of Van Dijk and Maguire. The issue under him is compounded by the fact he often leaves his defenders open and facing 1v1 situations as we saw at Chelsea.

Yeah, it's kind of odd how quiet the trail has gone on that.

Ha, seems a nice enough lad. On a related note, I'm mildly surprised how much the content has ramped up post takeover. It doesn't appear that they've added new faces but all of a sudden they're doing all kinds of content you'd associate with a top flight club.

I couldn't help but laugh when the takeover went through because you saw an instant spike. I managed to pick up a drill top from the Entertainers season for about £90. I'd say that needs doubling now if you want the same. I'd imagine those prices will only rise too albeit not as sharp.

If they're relegated they absolutely are fucked financially. It's a stay of execution in many ways. Their first team squad is chronically bloated. We're talking like almost 45 players involved this season. They should save about £12m in wages when Gylfi Sigurdsson, Fabian Delph, and Cenk Tosun leave but I'd imagine any available money (before further departures) will be funnelled into central defenders. Yerry Mina isn't bad but he's injury prone. Then you have the English quartet of Ben Godfrey, Michael Keane, Jarrad Branthwaite, and Mason Holgate. It's debatable if any of that group are good enough, let alone good enough to play in a Frank Lampard system.

Watching Darren Bent and Kieran Richardson on a podcast and they're reminiscing about how great their time at Sunderland was. Richardson goes; "We'd finish training on a Tuesday then go straight to Jesmond..." The co-host quickly points out that's in Newcastle

It's hard to be sure because footage is so limited, but the more I see of Munoz it would appear he's a striker that prefers to drop deep and may work best playing off another forward - a bit like Tomasson back in the day. If he continues to find his feet, I wouldn't be against giving him some minutes once we're safe.

It's a real blind spot with Southgate that those outside the British Isles don't get regular action.

It is quite a surprise that Defoe's story didn't garner more coverage given what he's done for the region. It also felt like a badly kept secret.

Tall folk have an easy time of life tbf.

I feel bad because he's such a complicated person. The years of drink and drugs have clearly messed him up. At the same time, any enjoyment of his ability is coloured by a horrific personal life and domestic abuse. I then heard his childhood and it sounded bordering on barbaric and like it would fuck anyone up. In the stasis of a football field he's perfection, outside of those lines it's chaos.

He spent two years under Bruce playing pretty much every role but the one he was signed for. If he'd at all played consistently as an attacking midfielder you'd have my agreement. Unfortunately for Almiron he had a strong start under Rafa, who knew what he was buying, and then was basically a glorified water carrier for Bruce that was used to make up for the fact he couldn't organise a team so had Almiron chasing around as a box to box midfielder. He's played more games out of position than he has in position, including on the right wing, which he's never been his entire career. At least on the left wing you could say he was fast and should be able to transition. https://www.transfermarkt.us/miguel-almiron/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/272999/verein/762 Just look at his numbers. He played 30 games as an ACM and scored nine goals and registered three assists. That's more than fine. I don't mind people saying it hasn't worked for him here or that he doesn't have a future, but the ignorance to the role our club has played in all this by forcing him out of position and not doing anything to accommodate him drives me a bit crazy. Hard working and fast does not equal headless chicken.

He has more than that.

Pop him in Southampton and he'd be grand.

Can't fault any of that.

Am I going to buy a Bristol Rovers shirt with Anderson on the back for when he gets his first England cap? Possibly.

The branding of socios essentially co-opting the name of something with such profound history and legitimacy is quite amusing.

Pogba is a wonderfully entertaining player. We should be nowhere near him.

I do wonder how he'd do these days. He was essentially someone that just kept it moving and ticking along. I think the further back in time you place him the better he probably looks because he consistently made the smart decisions. I fear now he'd be seen as lacking dynamism.

It's vital we pick the right spot for him though. No disrespect to the Gasheads here, but we've been quite fortunate he's joined a team in form at a level where he can comfortably stand out. I seem to remember talk of Luton Town before this move materialised. That's a solid example of a club with an easily identifiable style and a preference towards developing youth both internally and via external loans.

The fucking last dance Couldn't even last until the song finished.

Fascinating. I'd love to see some genuine talent and flair to come back with our academy players.

It also seems that Sunderland have once again sought to over-correct in the same way we did under Shepherd. While Johnson had the potential for attractive football he was wildly inconsistent. Now they're consistently turgid under Alex Neill while grinding out mixed results.

If it's that he's just retiring at the end of the season why announce it now? By all accounts he's barely had a kick in most games. He'd have got bags in our team under Rafa in the Championship but they've not got the quality to dominate games.

I can't decide if I'm surprised by this. Governing bodies and the like are very sensitive to criticism, but I thought there was enough plausible deniability with mention of the 12th man.