Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

From my seat: Sunderland (A)

By Ken   Buckley  ::  27/12/2011   9 Comments (»Last) Back to the Stadium of light on Boxing Day ? or should that be the Stadium of wind? There was plenty of it about from both the elements and the fans...

The day started on an odd note when the teams were texted through. Everton showed 10 outfield players and 5 subs, was this to be a revolutionary ploy? No, an amended text followed showing Fellaini a non-starter and the requisite number of players and subs.


The game got off to a comical start as a long throw-in from Neville was left to bounce by the keeper and it sailed over his head and he just managed to get back in time to gather. We then got into the meaningful stuff and the recalled Cahill got clear on the end of a good ball from Hibbert and from the right hand side of the box advanced on the keeper but his shot was saved as the angle was too tight. He had to shoot though as no-one had got into a position to receive a cut back in fact as he shot Saha was just making the edge of the box.

Then Drenthe fed the overlapping Baines with a delightfully weighted ball and his fierce low cross was put behind for a corner of which nothing came.

On the 15min mark the ?Hurting? Cahill showed why he is hurting when from a Baines corner he headed rather weakly wide when an on song Tim would at least have hit the target. The other out of sorts striker Saha showed anything Tim could do he could do better when just minutes later from another corner this time from the other side cleared all of the players except Saha who had intelligently read it and stepped back and clear and launched himself at a free header and contrived to miss the target. Both Cahill and Saha are having some rough patch in front of goal at the moment.

The half continued and we were on top and doing most of the attacking in difficult conditions without ever looking like troubling the opposition's net. I said to my mate it is when we are like this we usually give a goal away. I wished I had kept my mouth shut as on the 20-min mark we got a warning when Bendtner was put in on the left edge of the box he cut in and, but for some superb defending by Hibbert, Howard would have been troubled.

But then on the half-hour mark that warning had not been heeded as Distin seemed to go into 'headless chicken' mode when he rashly rushed at the Sunderland forward and got himself flat-footed and allowed an easy pass to find Colback who had just come on for the injured Bramble. I was sad to see Bramble go off so early as there is usually a rick in him against us, Colback advanced and Distin in trying to make amends lunged in dramatically and only diverted his shot above the diving Howard, who seemed to have it covered, and into his own net. Wouldn?t you just know it?

The wind got a bit stronger, we tried a bit harder but until the half-time break we managed just an Osman curler that floated just too high and wide of the far post and then Drenthe had a trademark dash inside and shot that was quite close to the keeper's post but the wrong side.

The second half and the wind got ever stronger howling through the open corners of the ground, paper blew everywhere and the pitch seemed to cut up making decent football nigh on impossible but fair play both teams stuck at it and they reached at best so-so.

Nevertheless, just 5 mins in, the effervescent Osman jinked into the box, passed player after player, he went down in a heap, Penalty!! Yelled the faithful, the ref Mr Webb looked long and hard in dramatic fashion and pointed to the spot. All hell broke loose, Sunderland pleaded innocence but Mr Webb would have none of it and up stepped Baines who was kept waiting by the keeper who went through a bizarre routine to try to put him off, he went to both posts and banged his boots then careered sideways along the line in true panto fashion. He needn?t have bothered Baines hammered it into the top corner and we were all square.

We cheered, yelled and sang and most believed we could win the league! Well it is Christmas. To a person we all believed it to be a nailed on pen but subsequent re-runs have shown both the faithful and World Cup Final ref Mr Webb got it quite wrong. Ossie fell over!

Sunderland, still seething, tore into us: Bendtner headed just over from a corner but in truth the gale force conditions reduced both teams to sporadic efforts and one or two hairy moments. Drenthe, who was poor throughout, was subbed on 75 mins in favour of Gueye who I think the manager thought he may bring a bit more discipline to the position as the clock ran down.

Drenthe had given the ball away far too many times as we built attacks and put us on the back foot and sometimes short at the back. I find it hard to understand how a player schooled at the famed Ajax academy and signed by Real Madrid can still believe he can go, with the ball, right through a fellow human being. The talent is there, but the football brain??
Vellios replaced Saha and McFadden replaced Cahill but they appeared to be no more than 'run the clock down' subs.

Distin had two more goes at scoring own goals but, either by very good judgement or a bit of luck, they went behind; the same player almost won it for us with the last kick of the match. After mopping up a series of Sunderland attacks in injury time, we fashioned a couple of corners at the death and, from the second of these, Distin pulled off at the far post and, from just a couple of yards, let fly only for the keeper to deflect over. Phew... nearly.

MotM -- Baines

Overall I thought it a fair result in difficult conditions. I thought Heitinga had his best game in centre-midfield and broke up lots of moves and the much maligned Hibbert also had a very solid game.

West Brom next and they are flying at the moment so some good news on the injury front would be welcome as would some early reinforcements for the striking department. I don?t know where we might get what we need in January but I wish all concerned good luck. Also, I would not mind a good big strong box to box centre midfield player who can score 10-12 goals a season. So does every other team in the world but I can dream.

Here comes 2012 so all the very best to you all and may the Blues rise again. See you down the Hawthorns way.
UP THE BLUES

Reader Comments (9)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

About these ads