Sunderland Preview

[andrew92]

However Dunny should have started. Tugay played centre half all game and allowed Yorke the freedom of the midfield. Terrible. Samba was excellent but what on earth was he doing when giving away that penalty.

wow! i think that mokoena sat in centre back and tugay had to chase the ball and he cant/shouldn't we needed maybe dunn or even savage on to chase the ball and give it tugay to pass

[B.R.F.C]

Wasn't that great a performance from our lads but ultimately its the points that matter and we got three of em. Few specific points about players:

Mokoena-Had an ok game in the middle of the park. Had a dodgy opening to the game but seemed to improve as the game progressed

Pedersen-Don't know why he is getting such flack again? He played reasonably well last night and showed signs that he is getting his confidence back with his effort from set pieces and towards the end when he made a great run skinning the Sunderland defender then cutting inside and crossing. Added to that he got stuck in alot last night and helped Warnock on several occasions. He had a far better game for us than Bentley did last night IMO.

Benni-Much like Morten he looks to be getting some confidence back and was really unlucky with his volley towards the end...I thought for certain it was about to smack the back of the net.

Tugay-What can you say about this man? At his age yet again putting in a superb performance and in the opening part of the game arguably kept us in it with his tackling and composure on the ball when those around him seemed to panic.

Hopefully advancing into the 4th round on Saturday and by next week Monsieur Anelka will have departed Bolton just in time along with Diouf...alls good again

[USRoverME]

Re: mokoena's passing, eurosport stats have him down for 22 accurate passes, 3 bad passes, unfortuantely, nothing given on passing direction....

interstingly enough, other odd numbers from that list:

Samba - 41 accurate, 2 bad

MGP - 27 accurate, 12 bad

Warnock - 28 accurate, 13 bad

Toogs - 58 accurate, 10 bad

Emo - 17 accurate, 0 bad

And Benni managed to go a whole game and not get caught offsides.

[BiggusLaddus]

Have to say, though, that was the most technically astute game I've ever seen Mokoena play and I would've put him as an outsider for MoM.

Seriously? Even when he fell over trying to control a slow 5yrd pass in the first half?

[cletus]

Den (from page 8) "The booing off, of our players at half time was the height of ignorance IMO!

They got booed because they played crap in the 1st half. The two guys next to me said they wouldn`t be forking out for a season ticket next term if this is the quality to be expected. I said i didn`t blame them. BTW....i didn`t boo, i was too fed-up & dis-heartened & cold to bother.

[Mattyblue]

They got booed because they played crap in the 1st half. The two guys next to me said they wouldn`t be forking out for a season ticket next term if this is the quality to be expected. I said i didn`t blame them. BTW....i didn`t boo, i was too fed-up & dis-heartened & cold to bother.

Quality to be expected???? It was ONE game!!!!!!! We ground out a priceless 3 points in terrible conditions. If we'd have lost 4-3 the same 2 blokes would have been going 'same old Rovers, not gonna bother next year'

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[den]

They got booed because they played crap in the 1st half. The two guys next to me said they wouldn`t be forking out for a season ticket next term if this is the quality to be expected. I said i didn`t blame them. BTW....i didn`t boo, i was too fed-up & dis-heartened & cold to bother.

The "ignorance" comment was because of those fans total misunderstanding of the conditions.

[waggy]

i understood the conditions and fife reckoned i was ###### or not there

[grizfoot]

The "ignorance" comment was because of those fans total misunderstanding of the conditions.

They are professional footballers I'm sure they should be able to cope with a little bit of wind and cold weather.

I don't blame people for booing at half-time the first half was purely a terrible watch.

[den]

They are professional footballers I'm sure they should be able to cope with a little bit of wind and cold weather.

I don't blame people for booing at half-time the first half was purely a terrible watch.

They did cope didn't they? They won.

But booing because there wasn't much pure football on show does indeed show ignorance. Ever tried a passing game into a biting gale Grizfoot?

[Robertson]

Was pretty darn cold alright, grateful for the three points but as mentioned the performance was poor, almost sunday league-esque at times!!!

Sunderland look like relegation fodder and we need some new faces this month in possible, especially to replace the the axe

[Exiled_Rover]

They got booed because they played crap in the 1st half. The two guys next to me said they wouldn`t be forking out for a season ticket next term if this is the quality to be expected. I said i didn`t blame them. BTW....i didn`t boo, i was too fed-up & dis-heartened & cold to bother.

We have shocking fans.

[Fife Rover]

i understood the conditions and fife reckoned i was ###### or not there

Awfully sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities Waggy; no offence intended. But it was just that your very forceful and prosaic comments on the match simply did not fit with what I saw on my TV, nor with the majority of the more sensible and balanced comments from others that were at the match and whose reading of the game I have learnt to respect and value.

[cletus]

Quality to be expected???? It was ONE game!!!!!!! We ground out a priceless 3 points in terrible conditions. If we'd have lost 4-3 the same 2 blokes would have been going 'same old Rovers, not gonna bother next year'

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

You`re entitled to your opinion......so are they.

.....As for my personal opinion, i think Rovers have lost the fire in their bellies. Hughes needs to shake things up & get rid of the dead wood before the rot sets in.

[RoyRover]

I was happy with the win, if was a must win game if we wanted to be challenging for the top six again. I saw the highlights on Football First and it was pretty dire stuff. We ground out a win, in dreadful conditions, which didn't make for good entertaining football for the fans, but the three points won was the most important thing about the game.