[Archived] Sunderland Preview - 20:00 Monday 18th October

[Grez]

I'm watching rovers in 3D ... Blackburn end lower

[DE.]

We should probably stop shooting

[adopted scouser]

Pinch me, we're playing football

[Commondore]

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss El Mohamady, he has put in a lot of good crosses tonight.

[JohnD]

Givet has made some very important touches tonight,

[Doaksie]

Maybe Gamst should dry the ball before his corners too.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Happy with that after being reduced to 10 men.

Robbo for England

[Ricky]

Happy with a point after playing half a game with 10 men

[Amo]

Maybe Gamst should dry the ball before his corners too.

Summed up his performance.

[Commondore]

0-0. Good result considering the circumstances.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Have to be happy with a draw after playing most of the game with 10 men. Some slightly better football, more on the deck but the usual problems with the lack of support and creativity.

[Bobby G]

Cant complain with 1 point having played 53 minutes with only 10 men can you?

But we didnt look good before the red card anyway. Too rushed. Not composed. That was disappointing. Lucky to have played against a poor attacking thrust today and that Robbo pulled off two-three magnificent saves.

[JohnD]

Another poor game.

A point won or two lost?

Two lost for me, I would have expected a win at the start.

[DE.]

We have to be happy with a draw considering we had to play a half with 10 men.

I thought we were quite poor today, even with 11 men. We looked so, so poor on the ball. The conditions may have played a part but technically we are quite bad. Quite literally the only way we know how to score is from scrambles in the box following a long ball, otherwise we look clueless coming forward and a lot of our shooting and passing today was woeful. The good thing is the players work very hard, and when we were down to 10 men the players upped their game to ensure we didn't get beaten. I thought Diouf looked comfortable on the ball and played well, but that's about all I can really remember. I think we benefitted from Sunderland playing particularly average, they'll be very disappointed with their level of performance, especially in the 2nd half. They never really threatened us, except with Bent's chance, which he should have tucked away. We can count ourselves very lucky tonight.

Also, the referee was awful. The sending off was correct but I thought throughout the match he was extremely poor.

[neophox]

Paul Robinson *CLASS*

[Tom]

Second half fat better than the first shame Samba had to do that.

Olsson and diouf werw superb along with robbo.

Thought pedersen did ok but delivered the worlds worst corner at the end.

A point isn't great but under the circumstances well earned.

Credit where it's due the changes seemed to work.

Now let's end the jones in midfield experiment

[imy9]

Very happy with that after the sending off, hopefully dunn stays fit now.

[unclejack28]

Happy with a draw but I just dont know where are goals are going to come from all season. Our midfield is so bad we cant keep the ball or pass it they just run around trying. Lets hope Goulon is any good and starts quickly. looking at our next few fixtures is too scary to think of now.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Samba missing for 3 games isnt he? inc. Liverpool & Chelsea I guess.

[Mr. E]

What a farce.

The red card was already ridiculous, but what Sunderland were allowed to get away with after that made it truly out of this world. Kicking, punching, shoving, pulling, elbowing, their keeper jumping with two closed fists for our players' heads, the fact that no one had to go to the hospital was a miracle. Yet the referee gave them no cards, no fouls, nothing...it's like they were perfect little angels that could never do the things they were clearly doing. If Samba's "challenge" was a red, Sunderland should have had 5 red cards and we should have had at least 2 clear penalties. The worst officiated game I've seen in quite some time, and not surprisingly it's Rovers that are once again the victims.

Nonetheless, we battled hard as we always do, but our tactics have become so obvious and uninspired that every team knows exactly where each pass is going to go. We have no chance whatsoever of scoring a goal unless we get some header in or the defense makes a mistake. It's not working, and BFS has failed to address the problem all season. The fact that Mame Diouf is behind Kalinic and Benjani is also crazy. He is out most lively striker by far.

Desperately needed the 3 points today...now looks like we'll be in the bottom half of the table for the foreseeable future.

[Amo]

Probably one of the worst games you'll see this year. Monday night atmosphere, slippery pitch and barely any attacking talent on display. There was very little difference to our team even when we had 11 men. We still lack a cutting edge in the final third and have forgotten how to play football. Samba was careless and put us on the backfoot, but he wasn't helped by Pedersen, who had another stinker. It beats me how he's worth £40-50k on the Blackburn payroll. Can't play left, can't play middle, pointless long throws etc. But enough about that. We did well enough to take a point under the circumstances but hardly cause for jubilation.

[BuckyRover]

What a farce.

The red card was already ridiculous, but what Sunderland were allowed to get away with after that made it truly out of this world. Kicking, punching, shoving, pulling, elbowing, their keeper jumping with two closed fists for our players' heads, the fact that no one had to go to the hospital was a miracle. Yet the referee gave them no cards, no fouls, nothing...it's like they were perfect little angels that could never do the things they were clearly doing. If Samba's "challenge" was a red, Sunderland should have had 5 red cards and we should have had at least 2 clear penalties. The worst officiated game I've seen in quite some time, and not surprisingly it's Rovers that are once again the victims.

Nonetheless, we battled hard as we always do, but our tactics have become so obvious and uninspired that every team knows exactly where each pass is going to go. We have no chance whatsoever of scoring a goal unless we get some header in or the defense makes a mistake. It's not working, and BFS has failed to address the problem all season. The fact that Mame Diouf is behind Kalinic and Benjani is also crazy. He is out most lively striker by far.

Desperately needed the 3 points today...now looks like we'll be in the bottom half of the table for the foreseeable future.

I'm glad I didn't watch the same game as you. Sounds infuriating.

[Bobby G]

Ref was one-sided and I cant recall a single decision which was 50-50 and went our way.

[Tom]

The ref was awful but there can be no arguments about the red. Cattermole could have picked a few yellows up his dive was a stinker.

Niko should be dropped next game he looked weak, I do wonder if he was told to play for free kicks second half though.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

We did our best with 10 men but is it good enough?,we cant score for toffee.Once again a lack of creativity and quality from the midfield forward but how the heck can we change this when we haven't got a pot to p1ss in?.....frustrating.

Diouf and Robinson stood out from the crowd tonight.

ONLY Liverpool and Chelsea next.