BFTMFG - Sunderland (H)

[Bandini]

Spotted a very tanned Chris Tarrant strolling around the ground after the game.

Was his spouse aware of his location?

[pea]

Is it the first time this season that all three promoted clubs are outside the relegation zone?

[72 bus]

I don't think Gunter has to much to worry about with old grace kelley there

If Kelly stays fit you will not see Gunter or Cummings again this season, massively better than both of those.
A proper right back at last and still only 29, could play on for another five years at least, so Gunter may as well look for another club as Cummings is only going to get better and will be adequate backup.

Gunter is just too timid to play at the top level

[Archie's penalty]

I don't think Gunter has to much to worry about with old grace kelley there

If Kelly stays fit you will not see Gunter or Cummings again this season, massively better than both of those.
A proper right back at last and still only 29, could play on for another five years at least, so Gunter may as well look for another club as Cummings is only going to get better and will be adequate backup.

Gunter is just too timid to play at the top level

Yep, Gunter's days at the club are numbered...

[Platypuss]

Can't see Cummings improving all that much now unless he plays games against meaningful opposition.

We'll need to buy or develop our own Luke Shaw.

[WestRoyal]

I am majorly impressed with our midfield today I have to say. They all did brilliantly. Best they've looked & the team picks itself now if they're all fit IMO

Couldn't agree more.

If this was the benchmark for the rest of the season, prepare yourself for another campaign in the top flight.

Akpan fully deserved his start (whilst Brian showed considerable guts in giving it to him) and for those of us who have wanted to see Jobi in the centre for a very long time, this was the best midfield 3 we've seen so far. Ok, Legs isn't perfect but he's a lot better than some suggest.

Sunderland are a decent outfit who will not be involved in the relegation scrap yet, but for a needlessly conceded penalty and a team of officials whose performance border on the disgraceful at times, in my view our victory would have been rather more comfortable than it turned out to be.

The summer transfer window, in hindsight, was McDermott's worst by a distance but January has seen us strengthen significantly without breaking the bank and this is now being heavily reflected on the pitch.

It simply beggars belief that there wasn't a queue stretching back to the M25 to sign Hope Akpan from Crawley; a player good enough for the top flight languishing in League One.

I agree totally that today's team looked like the finished article. Defenders who can defend, midfielders who can attack and defend and a varied group of strikers who can deal with most requirements.

We are no longer one of the 3 worst teams in this league. In fact, on current form we are one of the better ones. Enjoy.

It was for the premier league and not for the championship so there was every chance it was going to be as its top flight and was unkown territory in terms of experience for BM. I still believe the likes of Gunter will come good because he is young and if given the chance will improve and to me his confidence was shot. It only takes 2 to 3 good games for every one to start rating you on this forum and 2 to 3 bad games for everyone to start berating you.

[Millsy]

I'm delighted with the win and the signings and their performances and feel good about things...

But just to for discusson's sake we know things could easily be different when the game opened up at 4-4-2. We could easily have lost that game 3-1 or at least 2-1.

Would we then be praising our players so much ?

No.

We'd take a point or two off each player rating
We'd talk about how bad Legs is, why we didn't play Guthrie or Karacan, bemoaning the lack of a decent dead cert impact signing for our midfield.
We'd say Akpan shows promise but faded and that we shouldn't be relying on a promising player so soon.
We'd lament the fact that couldn't get Ince or graham etc.

Sadly we are still in the thick of a tough relegation battle and our wins have been heroic last gasp efforts, that could have been so so different. Not a huge amount to suggest that we're playing really well all of a sudden, except for Brian plugging that hole at RB. A win and we get positivity. A defeat and we get negativity.

Let's not kid ourselves, we are in trouble, we are on a knife edge. Let's not get carried away.

[Simon's Church]

Yeah, I h8 these dickheads that think winning's good and losing's bad. Entirely neutral comments regardless of result is the only way this board will improve.

[West_Reading]

The first 25 minutes or so was the best we've been all season (In that period of games). The 451 with the trio of McLeary-McAnuff-Kebe playing behind Pog worked beautifully and McAnuff is definitely the best we have in the squad to play that position, although the first goal came from him drifting out wide to his natural (over the past few years) position. Great feet by Kebe and a quality finish on his left foot.

Pog was an absolute beast. He is so good with the ball at his feet. On so many occasions he seems to be surrounded by a two or three of men and seems to dribble his way out, or shield it really well and lay it off to someone. He ran his nuts off yesterday and was a handful all afternoon

Ledge and Akpan were excellent at picking up the loose balls in our own half and Akpan in particular showed some really nice touches as well as great athleticism and good feet. Ledge gave the ball away cheaply a couple of times but he broke up play so much too and provided great cover behind Harte a couple of times when N'Diaye and Johnson were running on to through balls. I thought we were looking really dangerous and on top when McD decided to go 442 with ALF coming on. I guess we had to get ALF on (one way or another) but we just weren't the same after that and Sunderland began to grow in confidence and see more of the ball. Went absolutely mental when Kebe got on the end of Harte's freekick at the end. It was just a huge outpouring of relief but after the last few weeks, one that you now genuinely expect at the end of games. (Gotta agree with the goal music haters here, it just ruins it for me. I just wanna celebrate loudly and then sing about Kebe doing what he wants etc.)

Fed - 8 - Would have been one of the few guys you would have picked as a Premiership quality player before this season. Had a dodgy start but now showing his quality.
Kelly - 7 - Sound defensively and strong. Seemed to be better on the ball then against Chelsea.
Pearce - 7 - Won his headers, but needs to improve on the ball still. I said to my mate he's a 'move killer'. Need his leadership at the back.
Mariappa - 8.5 - What a signing he's been. Quality again. My POTS so far.
Harte - 7.5 - Gave the ball away cheaply once or twice but 2/3 excellent set pieces.
Kebe - 8.5 - I thought he just looked on it from the start. Two crucial goals and plenty of great balls in too. A complete hero.
Ledge - 8 - His strength and reading of the game is so crucial. He does give the ball away aimlessly at times but he has become better in that regard. Karacan/Guthrie don't have that same presence in front of the back four.
Akpan - 8 - Looks a great prospect. Genuinely excited by him. He has all the attributes physically and I think we've got a real rough diamond on our hands.
McAnuff - 7.5 - Good assist for the goal and unlucky not to win a penalty. Looks good in this role. Picked out a couple of good passes to Kebe (Kebe slipped on one)
McLeary - 7.5 - Thought he gave Gardner a torrid time all afternoon. Not as comfortable using his left peg as Jobi Mac so cut on to his right a lot.
Pog - 8.5 - What I said above. It's a shame he was out of favour for a while. As an all round striker, no one else we have can do what he does. If we can get to a stage where him and ALF can play together, it could be a great partnership.

ALF/Blackman - Neither really got into the game although ALF was certainly a marked man the way Sunderland just didn't want to give him any time on the ball.

[WestRoyal]

I'm delighted with the win and the signings and their performances and feel good about things...

But just to for discusson's sake we know things could easily be different when the game opened up at 4-4-2. We could easily have lost that game 3-1 or at least 2-1.

Would we then be praising our players so much ?

No.

We'd take a point or two off each player rating
We'd talk about how bad Legs is, why we didn't play Guthrie or Karacan, bemoaning the lack of a decent dead cert impact signing for our midfield.
We'd say Akpan shows promise but faded and that we shouldn't be relying on a promising player so soon.
We'd lament the fact that couldn't get Ince or graham etc.

Sadly we are still in the thick of a tough relegation battle and our wins have been heroic last gasp efforts, that could have been so so different. Not a huge amount to suggest that we're playing really well all of a sudden, except for Brian plugging that hole at RB. A win and we get positivity. A defeat and we get negativity.

Let's not kid ourselves, we are in trouble, we are on a knife edge. Let's not get carried away.

I totally agree with all that, Spot on. If they sclaffed a fluke in the last min to equalise totally against the run of play our outlook on the players would of been very different and the negatives probably would of out weighed the positives.

Nevertheless For me akpan was man of the match for me as he broke up play and gave it simple. stopped the opposition playing and put himself about. The midfield is where we have lost a lot of the games as they get over run when caught out of possession further up the field. Now we seem to attack without fear of losing it which gives us more belief going forward giving the defence more time to set them selves for the counter.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

I'm delighted with the win and the signings and their performances and feel good about things...

But just to for discusson's sake we know things could easily be different when the game opened up at 4-4-2. We could easily have lost that game 3-1 or at least 2-1.

Would we then be praising our players so much ?

No.

We'd take a point or two off each player rating
We'd talk about how bad Legs is, why we didn't play Guthrie or Karacan, bemoaning the lack of a decent dead cert impact signing for our midfield.
We'd say Akpan shows promise but faded and that we shouldn't be relying on a promising player so soon.
We'd lament the fact that couldn't get Ince or graham etc.

Sadly we are still in the thick of a tough relegation battle and our wins have been heroic last gasp efforts, that could have been so so different. Not a huge amount to suggest that we're playing really well all of a sudden, except for Brian plugging that hole at RB. A win and we get positivity. A defeat and we get negativity.

Let's not kid ourselves, we are in trouble, we are on a knife edge. Let's not get carried away.

I agree with this, when we went to 4 4 2, we totally lost our shape, Jobi going wide seemed to unbalance us...


First 25 minutes we were good, but we could have put this to bed before 85mins....

[Victor Meldrew]

Some stats that might surprise a few people.

Pass completion
ALF - 60%
McAnuff - 61%
Kebe - 67%
Akpan - 68%
Pog - 71%
McCleary - 73%
Leigertwood - 80%
Blackman - 86%
http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/615176/Live

Legs certainly gave the ball away stupidly about half a dozen times or so... but he also used the ball simply and well the rest of the time. More touches than any of the other midfielders.

Interesting percentages.
Unlike most on here I thought Jobi looked lost in central midfield and it was only when he went out wide (and provided the cross from his natural position) that he looked comfortable.Maybe because he ran about a lot makes people think that he played well but the above completion rate for a central midfielder is not good.
Last season I thought he was one of the best if not the best of our players over the full season but this season he has been veryy fortunate to keep his place.
We will see in the coming weeks how things evolve in the league games v Stoke,Wigan and Villa,3 of the lesser lights in this division.

I thought Feds,Mariappa and Akpan were our most influential players plus Jimmy for his finishing.
The ref got nearly everything wrong apart from the two major decisions-TV showed that theirs was a definite penalty but ours (like nearly everybody watching I thought it had to be one) clearly wasn't.
Good that Feds did his customary couple of game-changing saves and that for about 30 minutes we looked a team that actually can pass the ball in the first half.
One minor concern-we still don't have enough shots on target but our fantastic recent conversion rate has led to at last getting out of the bottom three.
Can we stay up by creating such few chances?
Who knows,but at least now we do have a chance whereas before Christmas we were dreadful.

Incidentally we haven't done so well playing 4-5-1,nearly all of our points have come when we switch to 4-4-2 but with our strange game plan working we are bound to stick with it and as fans it is so much better to leave a game when we have been on the up whereas Chelsea fans experience the opposite as they curently fade in most games that they play.

[PieEater]

For the first time this season it looked like we could compete, too often this season we've just stood off teams and waited for them to score. The midfield looks much better without Karacan and Guthrie, Akpan looks like he'll be quite a star and Jobi suits playing the Giggs role to support the wingers or help the attack.

The way the other results were going this was a crucial win, it's not going to be an easy run in and all teams around us are gaining points, but I think we now don't look like we don't belong here.

[Franchise FC]

A good performance today and we were well worthy of the 3 points.

Whoever said Jimmy didn't do anything for 88 minutes!!! He was everywhere - tackling back, heading clear and going forward to good effect. If the ref hadn't blown for a foul against Jobi (how?) he would've had a perfect hat trick

Having been pegged back by, in my view, a dubious penalty I was very worried that we would get mugged and end up losing a game we deserved to win.

I thought their penalty was iffy at the time because O'Shea was stretching for it & only trying to put the ball out to the winger plus, having seen it again on SSN, Pog gets a bit of the ball before he gets the man. Also look at the reaction of O' Shea and the other Sunderland players, none of them claimed the penalty and O' Shea only reacts after he gets up and runs into Pog.

Only if JK has two left feet

[Esteban]

I'm delighted with the win and the signings and their performances and feel good about things...

But just to for discusson's sake we know things could easily be different when the game opened up at 4-4-2. We could easily have lost that game 3-1 or at least 2-1.

Would we then be praising our players so much ?

No.

We'd take a point or two off each player rating
We'd talk about how bad Legs is, why we didn't play Guthrie or Karacan, bemoaning the lack of a decent dead cert impact signing for our midfield.
We'd say Akpan shows promise but faded and that we shouldn't be relying on a promising player so soon.
We'd lament the fact that couldn't get Ince or graham etc.

Sadly we are still in the thick of a tough relegation battle and our wins have been heroic last gasp efforts, that could have been so so different. Not a huge amount to suggest that we're playing really well all of a sudden, except for Brian plugging that hole at RB. A win and we get positivity. A defeat and we get negativity.

Let's not kid ourselves, we are in trouble, we are on a knife edge. Let's not get carried away.

I agree, but a lot of teams, even ones that finish comfortably in mid table, will have plenty of games like that one. Their goal gave them a lift and knocked us, because up until then, they'd had nothing. And it was as if we only created two chances all game. Momentum counts for a lot during the winter months of the season and we have it and we're capitalising on it. It's the sign of a decent side, not a good side, but one that can compete. We've come miles since the mauling at home to Arsenal. We've also got fighting spirit, which money cannot buy you, so we've given ourselves a fantastic chance.

[creative_username_1]

Yeah, I h8 these dickheads that think winning's good and losing's bad. Entirely neutral comments regardless of result is the only way this board will improve.

50 % 'greed on this

[Millsy]

Jimmy's Winning Goal

Great stuff, love it! Thanks Ben.

Agree thanks Ben

This sort of stuff is really appreciated by those who can't make some games.

[Royal Lady]

I was pleasantly surprised that we actually started the game well and despite not having many shots, we were holding our own against a Sunderland team who had been doing pretty well in the league. Was pleased for Jimmy, he certainly does seem to look to be putting more effort in than he has sometimes previously. He tackles and he scored with his head!

Thought Akpan didn't look out of place at all. First time I've seen Kelly play for us and he looks composed and assured - all in all, everyone played so much better than I'd previously witnessed. Think MOTM should go to Jimmy for the goals really, but Feds was in great form.

I'm much more confident that we can survive now - it certainly won't be so one-sided for the rest of the season. If McD manages to keep us here, he should get Manager of the Season for definite!

[blythspartan]

I was really pleased with how we played yesterday and thought that we looked like we had arrived in the Premiership. At times we looked very comfortable with the ball and it was some of the best possession football I have seen us play for a while.

I wonder if we are starting to see the benefits of having the coach from Ajax?

[AthleticoSpizz]

Good point Blyth, nothing much has been said about him, certainly no plaudits.

Quietly oiling the machinations of our recent success?

If so, then he's fitted in nicely to the Reading way