Living in Northern Ireland is not a bad old stick, compared to when it was when I was a youngster growing up in North East England. Being a Lads fan is remarkable in itself, mind you there are very few Barcode fans around to contend with unlike home. In this occasional column, I will chronicle my thoughts on events back in Wearside…
KYRIL ROCKS THE BOAT
Our 26 year old chairman and majority shareholder has made a few enemies of late. Not content with giving the Black Cats Bar to the Barcodes, pictures emerged in the week of it being bedecked in their colours. Naturally Lads fans were outraged, and you can understand why. Was this his decision solely or did someone else advise him? If it was the former, then it’s something that seemed a bit shortsighted to say the least but if it was a decision that someone advised, then did all understand the potential ramifications? Imagine if we had pulled off the upset, would the Barcode fans have left the bar in neat and tidy fashion. You can guarantee for sure that some wouldn’t have as every club has its fair share of idiots. But perhaps some foresight would have been needed as soon as the draw was made? Unfortunately, in the world of social media, things do have a habit of brewing discontent. A very valuable lesson for KLD indeed, one that we hope he has learned deeply from.
THE MATCH ITSELF
Considering it was a Wear-Tyne derby, it certainly didn’t feel like it in some cases. The Barcodes came to SR5 and conquered without really breaking sweat and that really does sting more than most. Bar a wee spell in the second half, we were seemingly on the back foot all the time. We could have conceded twice to Sean Longstaff in that first half. Either wing, they were finding the pass to get in behind us and it was from one of those that the opener came. You have to feel for Ballard though with that, a bobbling cross strikes his shin and flashes beyond Patto. You could see his reaction was one of hurt, inside he was eating away at himself as if to say I’ve seriously messed up here, but before it he’d been defensively sound as especially with the footrace with Isak. To go in at the half just one down, meant to me that we still had a chance if only we could get that next goal. As you know, those dreams got shattered within 32 seconds of the restart. I think I’m not alone here, but what was big Pierre doing? He must have thought that he was playing a libero role a la Franco Baresi the way he strolled out with the ball at his feet but Baresi, he is not, and Almiron of the dodgy eyebrows picked his pocket as good as the Artful Dodger in Oliver Twist to set up Isak for one of his easiest finishes in his career. Being two down so early in the second half, would have produced some kind of reaction from Mr Beale don’t you think? Instead, he just stood there like a dummy in Madame Tussauds. The team did rally briefly, Dubravka saving from Pierre and Pritch whilst Pritch also skimmed the bar from distance but those were about as good as we got. Then we got caught in the closing stages, definitely a penna and Isak sent Patto the wrong way. I was surprised myself how quiet the Barcode fans sounded. Normally, you would expect to hear them and even more in a derby encounter. For supporters of the self-proclaimed best team in the land and world, they were a huge disappointment indeed. I can bet you for sure that the Lads fans would have been noisy from start to the bitter end if the game had been played at Sid James Park.
BEALE AND HIS SUBSTITUTIONS
We are led to believe still that Beale is a tactical genius. Some Rangers fans still to this day, claim that it was he who masterminded their title win in the Covid season of 2020-21 and not Steven Gerrard, but I still remain unconvinced that this is true. Saturday showed that in spades for me, as he clearly didn’t either know what to do when faced with a deficit of 0-2 showing on the scoreboard or didn’t clearly trust the options he had at his disposal on the bench. You can’t have it either way for sure. Most managers, with any ounce of tactical nous, would have put on some substitutions at 55-60 minutes to try and change the game. It would either work out or it wouldn’t, simple as that. As it was, Beale used just one substitute in the game and did it with five minutes to go when Ba replaced Rusyn. Take off a striker and replace him with an attacking (?) midfielder, whilst leaving two strikers sitting on their collective backsides in the shape of Hemir and Burstow, It was pointless, and with no disrespect meant to Ba but he wasn’t going to unsettle the Barcode backline. I would love to know what homework he had done on the Barcoded ones too out of interest. If he had a plan, then it simply went out of the window from the first shrill of Craig Pawson’s whistle. Beale just stood for the majority of the game, arms folded and looking forlorn. I can grant you this, we would have got more animation out of Mike Dodds on the touchline than the Bromley One showed. Not quite Paolo Di Canio-esque animation but Dodds would have at least showed a bit of passion. Anyone might guess that it’s like Beale hasn’t yet bought into the Lads passion, unlike his predecessor, and it’s about time he does do if he wants to be a success here on Wearside. Harsh realities but this is how football works up here.
SO WHAT NEXT?
We have to now put the derby behind us and focus on the league campaign. Twenty games remain, starting with a tea time kick off in Suffolk to face an Ipswich side that defeated us 2-1 on opening weekend. Our recent form has been patchy, and for a team looking to make the play offs as a minimum standard that is not going to work out. What we have to do is to treat every game as if it is a Cup Final and put in maximum effort. Beale needs to cajole and encourage those Lads in red and white to kick onto the next level, after all that’s his job right? Perhaps, and just perhaps, come up with a Plan B when things aren’t going right. It just feels like we know only one formation, and one way to play. Maybe, just maybe, one day we might just play two up front to give the opposition something to think about for once? Would be nice. What we do in these twenty games will determine what kind of football we witness next season. The business end of the season now awaits; just strap yourself in for the ride!
