Everton, as usual under Moyes, set up not to lose. They were worse than Spurs, but the 'not scoring' narrative isn't going to go away. The media will love it, but we had chances, even against a team that defends really deep. They didn't do much to trouble us apart from the odd set piece, which they would have scored from if Vicario was anywhere near the net. Even Jack Grealish didn't trouble us.
It is very easy to criticise a team that can't score and the fact that we are far better than last season wont mean a thing until we start winning.
I thought the back 4 were decent, even Gray. Van Hecke, as already muted is a very good footballer. Robertson's delivery from the left isn't half refreshing. When did Spence or Udogie last put a quality cross in?
The midfield were good. Breaking down Everton's defence isn't easy and out of the two midfields, I thought we were the better one. That said, James Garner is a good defensive player. He was their man of the match for me.
Marmoush started well, but the £85m spent on Savio was an absolute waste. He may well be quick and better than Tel, but he can't cross or score. There are some players we shouldn't worry about the cost, like Tonali and Fernandes, because they have improved the midfield, but I don't see what Savio will improve. Being a quicker version of Tel isn't that much of a positive, if the rest of the football is tripe.
Solanke must see that he is out of his depth. Last season he fit well into a bunch of mediocre charlatans. Come January the Lewis' will have to invest (or go get a free transfer now), but waiting 3 months for a striker is a long time to endure a whole host of 0-0 results. How do we score goals in the meantime? We take a leaf out of Frank's book and hit the training field for set pieces. It's the one thing Frank managed to do well.
Plenty of good points CS. Yes, Van Hecke is a heck of a footballer and I think is actually a better partner for VDV than Romero. Of course we overpaid for Savio, nevertheless he did have some bright moments in that first half and showed some electric pace and trickery on one or two occasions. Like Fernandes, the boy is still young and developing as a player and he needs time to adapt to being a regular starter. I thought he was better than against Forest, so let's reserve judgement until he has had a few games under his belt.
As for Marmoush, there is plenty of talent, pace and skill there. The lad was a prolific scorer in the Bundesliga, so we must give him time, again, to adapt to RDZ's system. I do believe, once he gets the proverbial 'monkey off his back' and scores, that he will have a good season for us. Of course the media are willing us to implode and will give us no time at all, so as fans it's important we don't buy into that wholly malevolent narrative. The team is improving, but needs more time. The Villa game would be the ideal time to break the winless drought!
I saw enough of Savio at City for a judgement to be made. It was a most peculiar transfer, especially for the price. He certainly hasn't shown enough to justify that price tag, unlike let's say Estevao at Chelsea, if we'd bought him. I'd seen enough of Palmer to see Chelsea had bought very well. For me, he's in the same mould as Walcott. Quick but not a footballer in its truest sense.
Marmoush is the best we've had in the front 3 since Son left, but I think you're being kind with calling him 'prolific' from his time in Germany. The relationship with Solanke is none existent, but they've had little time together, so that is another factor. He has lots of nice touches and dribbles. Compare that to Solanke. I can't remember much of what he did yesterday. He has to step up and find some of the form he had at Bournemouth. If he cannot do that between now and January, he has to be binned off like the rest of the remnants.
Unfortunately, we can't stick our fingers in our ears and not listen to the media. We could ignore it I suppose, but even HH puts the press conferences out there! I agree, this team is improving, and it is far better to watch.
We had something a bit closer in Paulinha, "one hundred percent I want him to stay.." RDZ said, then he was let go. I imagine to make room for Tonali on the books.
I thought Gallagher and Paulinha when they played together looked like a robust and competitive Premiership midfield, but with the reintroduction of Bantancur alongside Tonali and Fernandez it seems we have three that offer nothing different from one another. All good on the ball but none of them seem physically up to it or defensively strong when need be.
You are right ..but why would Brobby want to leave Sunderland . Spurs need to find some sort of cohesion upfront before January because what we need upfront is a player not just a money cnut .
Suspect the charisma twins, spectrum brothers, or whatever you want to call them will be going all Captain Mainwaring about our first 4 games and be ‘disappointed’ with the boos at the end (not something I particularly agree with btw, I didn’t personally have the energy to show any dissent at the end, I was too busy yawning).
Just relieved I blocked them from my social media feed over the summer.
No wonder the queue for the cubicles in the Gents at the stadium is so fucking long, I can hardly blame people for self medicating when they’re forced to sit through that.
Agreed and he was excellent defensively for us today also. Commanding in the air, physical and brave, the kind of player who always puts his body on the line. A top signing for us, amidst the panic buys and RDZ's indulgences.
Half the sides in the league are operating with dogmeat forwards including the visitors today and the ones next league fixture.
We just need to get on with it, too much over excitement from the players first 20 and then too little belief the rest of the game. They need to calm down and buckle in.
No surprise when we are a team without any quality up front. We started the transfer window with what appeared to be ambition but then reverted to type at the end failing to attend to the primary issue that has plagued us since Kane and Son left. To win matches you need to score goals. Possession stats an all the other meaningless statistics mean nothing if you have no one capable of finding the back of the net. Impossible to understand why we did not hold onto Lankshear until and if we had secured anyone capable of leading the line. Absolute shambolic decision making. Lets also not get carried away with the so called investment made in the squad as our net spend was around £100 million and that is nothing to get overly excited about.
Unfortunately it's true SG. A must win for us, albeit I am sure Villa will feel the same way. At least we are looking more solid defensively. If we can just, somehow, nick a goal and a win next week, for sure the confidence will improve and the team can build on that, but at the moment it is pretty dire.
I think that’s the real issue at the club. And even more concerning matter seems to be that the morons with all the money won’t see it in a month of Sundays
Everton, as usual under Moyes, set up not to lose. They were worse than Spurs, but the 'not scoring' narrative isn't going to go away. The media will love it, but we had chances, even against a team that defends really deep. They didn't do much to trouble us apart from the odd set piece, which they would have scored from if Vicario was anywhere near the net. Even Jack Grealish didn't trouble us.
It is very easy to criticise a team that can't score and the fact that we are far better than last season wont mean a thing until we start winning.
I thought the back 4 were decent, even Gray. Van Hecke, as already muted is a very good footballer. Robertson's delivery from the left isn't half refreshing. When did Spence or Udogie last put a quality cross in?
The midfield were good. Breaking down Everton's defence isn't easy and out of the two midfields, I thought we were the better one. That said, James Garner is a good defensive player. He was their man of the match for me.
Marmoush started well, but the £85m spent on Savio was an absolute waste. He may well be quick and better than Tel, but he can't cross or score. There are some players we shouldn't worry about the cost, like Tonali and Fernandes, because they have improved the midfield, but I don't see what Savio will improve. Being a quicker version of Tel isn't that much of a positive, if the rest of the football is tripe.
Solanke must see that he is out of his depth. Last season he fit well into a bunch of mediocre charlatans. Come January the Lewis' will have to invest (or go get a free transfer now), but waiting 3 months for a striker is a long time to endure a whole host of 0-0 results. How do we score goals in the meantime? We take a leaf out of Frank's book and hit the training field for set pieces. It's the one thing Frank managed to do well.
Plenty of good points CS. Yes, Van Hecke is a heck of a footballer and I think is actually a better partner for VDV than Romero. Of course we overpaid for Savio, nevertheless he did have some bright moments in that first half and showed some electric pace and trickery on one or two occasions. Like Fernandes, the boy is still young and developing as a player and he needs time to adapt to being a regular starter. I thought he was better than against Forest, so let's reserve judgement until he has had a few games under his belt.
As for Marmoush, there is plenty of talent, pace and skill there. The lad was a prolific scorer in the Bundesliga, so we must give him time, again, to adapt to RDZ's system. I do believe, once he gets the proverbial 'monkey off his back' and scores, that he will have a good season for us. Of course the media are willing us to implode and will give us no time at all, so as fans it's important we don't buy into that wholly malevolent narrative. The team is improving, but needs more time. The Villa game would be the ideal time to break the winless drought!
I saw enough of Savio at City for a judgement to be made. It was a most peculiar transfer, especially for the price. He certainly hasn't shown enough to justify that price tag, unlike let's say Estevao at Chelsea, if we'd bought him. I'd seen enough of Palmer to see Chelsea had bought very well. For me, he's in the same mould as Walcott. Quick but not a footballer in its truest sense.
Marmoush is the best we've had in the front 3 since Son left, but I think you're being kind with calling him 'prolific' from his time in Germany. The relationship with Solanke is none existent, but they've had little time together, so that is another factor. He has lots of nice touches and dribbles. Compare that to Solanke. I can't remember much of what he did yesterday. He has to step up and find some of the form he had at Bournemouth. If he cannot do that between now and January, he has to be binned off like the rest of the remnants.
Unfortunately, we can't stick our fingers in our ears and not listen to the media. We could ignore it I suppose, but even HH puts the press conferences out there! I agree, this team is improving, and it is far better to watch.
Maybe we signed the wrong Midfielder from the barcodes.
I know he’s an ex-gooner,but Xhaka is still quality.We still have nobody like him yet in our MF.
We had something a bit closer in Paulinha, "one hundred percent I want him to stay.." RDZ said, then he was let go. I imagine to make room for Tonali on the books.
I thought Gallagher and Paulinha when they played together looked like a robust and competitive Premiership midfield, but with the reintroduction of Bantancur alongside Tonali and Fernandez it seems we have three that offer nothing different from one another. All good on the ball but none of them seem physically up to it or defensively strong when need be.
RDZ needs to get this together soon...
We could do worse than Brobby. He may not be prolific (except against us) but by God does he get Sunderland up the pitch, just what we need.
You are right ..but why would Brobby want to leave Sunderland . Spurs need to find some sort of cohesion upfront before January because what we need upfront is a player not just a money cnut .
Suspect the charisma twins, spectrum brothers, or whatever you want to call them will be going all Captain Mainwaring about our first 4 games and be ‘disappointed’ with the boos at the end (not something I particularly agree with btw, I didn’t personally have the energy to show any dissent at the end, I was too busy yawning).
Just relieved I blocked them from my social media feed over the summer.
No wonder the queue for the cubicles in the Gents at the stadium is so fucking long, I can hardly blame people for self medicating when they’re forced to sit through that.
Over 200 minutes in the EPL now without conceding a goal! The only slight problem is over 400 minutes without scoring one!
A lot of sides will take the 'mutually assured destruction' point and scadaddle.
Bloody critic!
Van hecke is our best passer and most creative player.
Agreed and he was excellent defensively for us today also. Commanding in the air, physical and brave, the kind of player who always puts his body on the line. A top signing for us, amidst the panic buys and RDZ's indulgences.
If we can't score again, now after four Premier League games, WE ARE GOING TO GET RELEGATED.
Every single contributor to this blog has been calling for a goal scoring striker for donkeys
They have not bought one, apparently.
£3,bn turns into £1 bn when they go down.
Cupid stunts. ..
Post Kane an Son, there was zero plan...
You is right!
SUFO
Had to look that up Sorry Bill
Sell Up Fak Off…
Half the sides in the league are operating with dogmeat forwards including the visitors today and the ones next league fixture.
We just need to get on with it, too much over excitement from the players first 20 and then too little belief the rest of the game. They need to calm down and buckle in.
No surprise when we are a team without any quality up front. We started the transfer window with what appeared to be ambition but then reverted to type at the end failing to attend to the primary issue that has plagued us since Kane and Son left. To win matches you need to score goals. Possession stats an all the other meaningless statistics mean nothing if you have no one capable of finding the back of the net. Impossible to understand why we did not hold onto Lankshear until and if we had secured anyone capable of leading the line. Absolute shambolic decision making. Lets also not get carried away with the so called investment made in the squad as our net spend was around £100 million and that is nothing to get overly excited about.
Bring back COVID
🤣
Just when you think this club has embarrassed you in every way possible they find a new way
17th ..has a ring to it.
Telegraph predicted 16th weeks ago I laughed, not now
At least we have progressed.
Basement battle vs the floundering Villa next up in the league!
Early 6 point'er?
Unfortunately it's true SG. A must win for us, albeit I am sure Villa will feel the same way. At least we are looking more solid defensively. If we can just, somehow, nick a goal and a win next week, for sure the confidence will improve and the team can build on that, but at the moment it is pretty dire.
RDZ laying into Tel after the whistle.He knows he’s gash so why pick him?
Van Hecke our best player,the rest were shite
Archie did well.
We need to get rid of the Director of Football, he knows nothing about football. Find someone who knows how to put a squad together
I think that’s the real issue at the club. And even more concerning matter seems to be that the morons with all the money won’t see it in a month of Sundays
Viagra Joe would have to ask the Thai lovely to get off his dick before he saw anything.
The pair of them are a fucking joke.
Fucking garbage.