Man o match etc etc

[ramone]

14 hours ago, Lawrie Madden said:

Bannan by a mile 

 

He was like the Duracell bunny tonight as good as Newcastle last season 

This - Reach had a good second half.

 

Bannan has bossed it this season so far. MOM in every game so far... 

[Owlsend]

Bannan for me is passes and vision was like a finely tuned musical instrument...

Just hope  Carlos keeps him in that position

[cookeh]

Went for Reach. Bannan was up there was well, and the two together are what made it, Reach's runs and Bannan's passes. But giving it to Reach over Bannan purely for the ground covered. He really was going from goalline to goalline non-stop in that 2nd half, putting balls in at one end and making tackles at the other.

 

For the rest:

Westwood - Have no idea what he was thinking for the goal, just crazy. Didn't have much else to do.

Hunt - Got clattered early doors, and seemed to be carrying an injury all game. Did ok considering.

Lees - Reasonably solid.

Pudil - Still gives me the jitters, but didn't do a lot wrong. Will be glad when he's back on the bench tho.

Jones - Did ok. Shielded reasonably well, did misplace the odd pass, but cracking goal.

Bannan - Excellent. His change of pace, darting forward with the ball scares defenders and his passing is just great.

Abdi - Seemed to be carrying a shoulder injury from the start. Playing him did him no favours, should have been rested.

Wallace - Pretty poor tbh. Poor crossing, turned down shots, made Palmer look like a mug by releasing the ball way too late. No threat.

Hooper - Tough one.. played well, but at the same time, had 3 great chances and didn't take any of them.

Winnall - A bit let down by service first half and mostly muscled out of it.

 

Palmer - Did ok in the little time he had. Didnt get any help from Wallace going forward, nor defensively.

Fletcher - Did really well when he came on, got involved, linked up well and caused problems.

Rhodes - Did well. Won headers, linked up, made things happen. Unlucky not to score.

 

Defensively we still need some work. Grabban should have made it 2-0 with his header in the first half, and that would have been the game dead I think. Somehow we've got Hooper marking him at the defensive set piece.

Bannan in that inside left mid position was really good. Wallace wasn't really at the races, but you've got the think Lee or Boyd would thrive there. Jones was a decent fulcrum and doesn't drop as deep as Hutch does, meaning he get the chance to have a pop like he did.

Up front, I want to see more of Fletcher and Rhodes. Hooper did well in the hole behind them and found space due to Fletch and Rhodes getting attention. Hooper really should have won it for us a couple of times. Would Nando work better in that position tho?

 

Overall, I liked the shape and we had a bit more purpose about us. The 442 diamond really let us get numbers forward when attacking, with the fullbacks going on as wingers, and Bannan and Wallace on the outside of the diamond coming forward as well. It was often a 2143 when attacking and Sunderland struggled to stop it. We had the chances to win and had Hooper worn his shooting boots and Rhodes managed to get round Fletchers flick a bit more then we would have had 3 points. Only 2 points from 9, but this game did give us a bit of a cause to think that we'll come good once again.

 

Team for Saturday:

 

Westwood

Hunt - Lees - Venancio - Reach

Boyd - Jones - Bannan

Nando

Fletcher - Rhodes

 

[britpunk77]

 

Westwood 4     Diabolical rush of blood for the goal and another headless chicken walkabout later on otherwise steady'

Hunt 7              Took a couple of heavy knocks but kept going played very well again.

Lees 6              Reasonably good performance distribution not great on a few occasions but defended well.

Pudil 7              Well above average evening at CB distributed the ball well and got over the halfway line a few times to get us moving forward.

Reach 8            MOTM his best showing in a Wednesday shirt for me did well defensively but going forward was a revelation, long may it continue.

Wallace 5         Did OK but think the narrower formation hampered his game, crossing was not up to his usual standard.

Abdi 4               Some decent touches, good to see him get a run out but was off the pace at times.

Jones 6            Absolute wonder-strike for the goal, a few misplaced passes and got ran past too easily but on the whole no grumbles.

Bannan 8         Was up for it tonight with surging runs, some creative passing and stout defending overall a commendable nights work.

Winnall 5          Didn't really feature, got a couple of shots away, didn't cause their defence any real problems.

Hooper 7          Good link up play and decent efforts on goal, would've pipped Reach for MOTM had he netted.

 

Fletcher 7        Made an impact from the bench and had the defenders on the ropes, did very well on the LH side of a front 3 but was the missed in the middle (catch 22).

Rhodes 6         Looked up for it and sharper than normal had a few efforts but nothing on target, think he will have better chances if we continue in this vein.

Palmer 5          Not really on long enough to evaluate so averaged him out.