Barely three weeks since a Clarke- inspired win on Humberside, the Lads faced the Tigers again - and put in a display as disjointed as a skeleton hit by a train. It looked a tad positive when Rusyn was selected, but, despite him running his Ukrainian socks off, we couldn't maintain any sort of shape and lost out to a poor visiting side.
I've been told that my reports often resemble a shi# sandwich in that they start and end positively but have to talk about the match in the middle - thanks, Linda - but tonight there wasn't much nice bread. Even the rumours about Alese's injury turned out to be correct. Shi# broth tonight, a culinary mess not even Masterchef’s Mike Bartley, our Ian’s best man, could have made palatable. To be honest, I’d have been better entertained going to the comedy club at Bishop town hall then necking a few beverages at the Hoss, but football’s an addictive thing, and I’m and addict, doctor.. what can you prescribe?
Patterson
Seelt Ballard O'Nien (c) Hume
Neil Ekwah
Pritchard Bellingham Clarke
Rusyn
..and a bench of Bishuuurrrp, Ba, Pembele, Hemir, Burstow, Aouchiche, Bennette, Triantis, and Rigg.
Hull spoiled the start by winning the toss and defending the north end, and as our fans in the north stand cleaned their seats for the tenth time, we started with Pritch tending towards the right, and (once again) Bellingham moving from midfield to front line. The first five minutes didn’t see either side manage to string together more than three passes, meaning that the ball pinged all over the middle of the park and a little spell of visiting pressure ended when they upended Neil as he tried to carry it away from our box. We did get it forward from there, with Rusyn on the right getting it to Pritch but the ball towards Bellingham was a yard too heavy. He was a bit over-enthusiastic soon after when their keeper did a Patto and we won the ball, but we did manage to win a corner when Hume, operating at left-back, barged his way forward. There followed a stream of fouls by the visitors that brought a string of yellow cards, with us failing to make anything from the free-kicks because we almost always tried to take them quickly – and short, which did little to get the home crowd enthused. We tried some interchanges down the right via Jobe and Seelt, but it was nothing like Diallo and Roberts, and thus it just didn’t work out.
Patto was the first keeper to be called into real action in the half hour when he got down low, but we still struggled to fall into any sort of shape. The defence we could see, Rusyn we could see, Clarke we could see....but the rest seemed unsure of where they were supposed to be. That might be a tad unfair on Neil, but he needed to know where others were if he was going to make any meaningful contribution. Having said that, what looked like a clear elbow on Rusyn was ignored and the ball eventually ran to their keeper, with yet another yellow being waved at a Tiger. Clarke made a break down the left, but despite a little period of pressure, that keeper had precious little to do.
We ended the half on top (sort of) but in a totally uninspiring manner, and with the visitors having had five men booked, our main hope for the second half was that one of them would carry on clogging and get a second yellow. As if to inspire them, after the single added minute’s added time, Catts did the half-time draw by slide-tackling the tombola box and catching the first ticket that floated into his hand. Not mine, unfortunately.
No changes for the second half, which we started in the same fashion in which we’d ended the first - enthusiastic but ineffective. Ekwah was late into a tackle and got booked, then a couple of Pritch corners got us nothing and our little period of half-decent play petered out and we went all ragged again. Lots of forward play, lots of corners and more than a few free kicks, but despite the height of Seelt and the muscles of Ballard, none of them came to anything. The closest we came was from a Pritch corner on the left that found Ballard at the front stick, but his header flashed all the way across. As if to take the mickey of our forward situation, they brought on Billy Sharp – all 37 years of him. Dan Neil aimed a long cross at the advancing Seelt at the far post, but the keeper got there first. Pfft.
With 20 to go, O9 tried a daft header back, and Patto had to chase to the left hand side of his area, clashing with a forward. No doubt in the Prem it would have been a foul for looking at the keeper in a slightly funny way, but tonight it was a corner. We didn’t deal with it, and a deflected volley from the edge flew past Patto for a goal. Daft play, Lads. No need, really.
We needed a bit of freshening up, but when the change came it was Rusyn who left the field, replaced by Hemir – look, he needed assisting, not replacing. Several times the big Brazilian won the ball and looked for someone to tap it to, but all his marras were too far away. He did get in a shot that was struck slightly harder that Pritch’s effort on the run in the first half, but, again, it was a piece of cake for the keeper. With ten to go, and the crowd getting increasingly restless, Seelt and Ekwah made way for Ba and Pembele. A new right side to the side, and to be fair they injected a fair bit of pace down that wing. However, while Ekwah had looked a tad off the pace at times despite firing off a few shots – stop it, you Sunderland fans, with all your “shoot” stuff, he’s done his scoring business – Seelt had done nothing wrong. Bellingham, on the other hand, after a few indifferent performances, simply hadn’t been at the races tonight and should really have been one of those given a rest. Look, I really like the Lad, and he’s very obviously got a very good footballer inside of him, but he’s only just eighteen and needs to either a) throw caution to the wind and start clattering into people or b)be subjected to some very physical stuff in training.
Still, we kept winning corners and not getting to them, with their keeper getting a yellow for some reason – why not a penalty, ref? It was in the box. He then pretended to be hurt, so the ref took the ball off him and did a drop ball, or whatever they’re called, straight back to him. Answers on a postcard, please, to Sobs, North West Corner. We won more corners, mostly on our left, which none of our big Lads could get near, and five added minutes were announced as the crowd made their feelings about our performance known. Patto went up for a corner, which was a tad confusing as his kit was exactly the same at the Ull keeper’s. Presumably the ref knew the colour of their gloves, but he managed to see a foul by Clarke that he deemed worthy of a yellow.
There were far fewer than the reported 40,000-ish (probably in reality only 35,000 due to the weather and the Friday night) left when the whistle went, and fury was vented on the home management. Look, I’m all for giving the man a chance, but we’ve all seen the starting elevens. We’ve all seen the substitutions, we’ve all seen the formations- or lack of one tonight. There’s nothing I’d like more than for Michael Beale to be the most successful Sunderland coach/manager in recent years, because I’m sick and tired of change, and change that hasn’t worked. Having said that, our owners and backroom people need to have a really good look at what they’re trying to achieve and how they’re trying to achieve it. I know fine well that sustainability and working within a budget that doesn’t put us in debt to evil overseas forces is a morally good thing, but there’s a time when you have to bite the bullet and go for something that will bring results and happiness in the short term. Rumours of M’Vila on the pitch before the game and Kieffer Moore being close to agreeing terms may have been the result of too much Double Maxim, but you never know. If Ull can manage Billy Sharp...
Oh, I nearly forgot, a Man of the Match...a hard one after the overall shambles against a side that based its game on kicking us up in the air. Seven yeIlows to our two, and one corner to our twelve tells its own story. I thought Seelt had a decent evening, and so did the hard-working Rusyn, while Neil was OK but hampered by the efforts of his midfield colleagues. Probably Rusyn, then, as Clarke held off firing in a killer cross on the several opportunities he had, but I’m really struggling and fully accept than many might decide that nobody deserves an accolade of any sort after that showing.
