(** – Hopefully)

Tuesday wasn’t very good, as seems to be the case this season, we’ve thankfully got an opportunity to get back on track a few days after. Home Comforts, Home is where the heart is, Home Sweet Home etc… unfortunately we are making a habit of being shite at home. Whilst it is a nightmare that we aren’t allowed to go to the match, it does at least absolve us, (the fans), of the blame we’d be getting for the results being so poor at home. It’s not the fault of the pitch, it’s not because teams raise their game…..but whatever it is needs fixing. I wrote the other day that we have to change the whole mindset and culture of the club, easier said than done. For years we’ve come up short whenever we’ve had games in hand or winnable sequences of games, just because we always do it, does not mean it’s ok. Acceptance of such shite is almost like deeming it to be ok, it’s not ok – it’s like a business that says, we’re always quiet in January and February….. boils my piss, you can just accept this, or ….you can change it. No more typical Sunderland, no more home hoodoo, no more apathy….. let’s start today, get out there and smash these bang average League 1 jobbers💥⚽️💥⚽️

George Dobson Departs…

He’s joined Wimbledon til the end of the season, good luck to him. It’s probably the right move for both parties, he’s been poor this season and with Winchester coming in, he’s clearly not in the plans of LJ at this current time. Social Media can be pretty grim, but let’s remember this lads biggest crime is he’s had a few bad games, after years of gutless shysters on telephone number wages like Januzaj and Rodwell, I like the idea of someone wanting to go out on loan rather than sit on the bench. It hasn’t worked out thus far for Dobson at SAFC, but there’s nothing wrong with his attitude or desire, so all the very best George.

Promotion to The Championship…

We are not badly placed, I was one of the minority that thought we were on track under Parkinson, I was disappointed when he was sacked, but it’s done now and we must look forwards. It’s definitely achievable, the league is poor, we have the best squad and the 5 subs rule is a huge advantage for us. Liverpool and Chelsea are struggling a bit, (in relative terms), the reason for this is too many of their better players are out of form. Whilst it’s by no means a like for like comparison, I see it as similar at Sunderland, we have the tools to get the job done, it’s just not quite clicking at the moment. Our midfield has sufficient quality for us to be top of this division, but I see Scowen a bit off it, Maguire showing why he’s in L1, (this is not an insult – but testament to his inconsistency from sublime to sub standard), Embleton and Diamond doing ok but looking raw, McGeady worries me – when he lost his mojo under Ross, he was petulant and was like the kid at school who never passed….he looked that way the other night. The positive of out of form players is that they can improve, a player without such talent has a ceiling in terms of their performance.

The January window is open, it might no be as simple as this, but……we are crying out for some pace. Winchester looks ok, I’m not sure he looks any different to what we already have? Surely there must be someone available on the loan market from above, who needs game time and is fast? There’s never any guarantees, but we are desperate for a bit of pace.

The Match…..

I’d predicted 1-1, I’ve even wasted a few quid on that prediction…. it’s Saturday now, it’s matchday, I’ve got my stripes on…. amended prediction SAFC 5 vs SHREWSBURY 0 ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️ Let’s do this.

How We Line Up…..

GAME ON….. 3pm

18 minutes….. GOAL! Great header from Wyke, after good work from McGeady. We’ve started well, Scowen controlling things in midfield, best game I’ve seen him play for us – so far so good.

Half time……. 1-0. We deserve to be ahead, as is always the case with 1-0, a second goal would make it feel a lot more comfortable. A couple of warning signs from them, with 2 good chances, (1 bad miss and 1 good save from Burge). We’ve had 4 corners, from the right Grant has delivered to shite balls, from the left he’s delivered 2 great in-swingers. Surely it’s ok for us to have a different corner taker from each side of the pitch?

Just seen the goal again, it was a fantastic header, Wyke had both feet high off the ground and did fantastically well to get sufficient power and direction, as it was a hanging ball.

Overall, decent enough though.

Subs?? I’d take Diamond off, he’s young I know and he’s one of the better prospects we have, I’m not for one moment hanging him out…. not unusual for his age, but he seems to have good games and bad games with not much in between, his delivery has been very poor today, bring Maguire on.

2nd Half……..

57 minutes……. what do we do at half time? My experience of playing football is just Sunday League and a long time ago, even then we had chopped up oranges and a *No Smoking* rule at half time. We just seem to consistently come out slow after the break, surely they don’t just sit around smoking and eating pizza?

65 minutes…….Maguire on for Diamond, we’ve been poor 2nd half, but one moment of quality will seal this and if anyone can offer said quality, it’s probably Maguire?

80 minutes…… we’ve been awful 2nd half. Hopefully we’ll hold on. This is the type of game that saw Parkinson sacked, I’m not for one moment questioning LJ, but was Parkinson really the problem? Not for me. We are bang average, fortunately that’s better than most of this league.

WON 1-0…….

Keep the Faith and the Rewards will come…..