The comments are ridiculously one sided.
Let's take our first goal, for example. Swap Roberts for azaz and fold would be saying he was weak. We then cut them apart with one pass. They were woeful at defending and relied on 2 og's.
There was some poor defending from both sides. You don't get 5 goals if both sides defend properly.
Sunderland were awful last night and got extremely lucky.
On players performances I want that impressed with Giles, if I am honest. He did much the same as borges and passed back a lot. He did put a couple of decent crosses in, to be fair.
I thought Burgzorg was pretty average, goal aside. Morris azaz and whitaker were all poor though one was a debut and the other coming back from injury.
Illing junior... I don't know looked awkward but unfair to judge him.
The defence, least said soonest mended with Ayling being the worst of a mediocre bunch.
Hackney, best player on the pitch besides le fee who was head and shoulders above the entire division.
Other than those 2 I didn't see much from anyone else. I suppose Roberts ran a lot, but then so did Burgzorg.
Our one saving grace was we had, very much a makeshift side out and didn't get what we deserved.
I'm a little surprised by your comments here, as I usually feel we have a similar opinion on football.
I’m also unsure how you can say my comment that the goals didn’t come from passing out from the back, as another poster suggested "are ridiculously one-sided.” All the goals we conceded last night resulted from midfield or forward players giving the ball away cheaply. I’ll go through each goal as it happened.
For our first goal, you mention that fans would be calling Azaz weak if he had done the same as Roberts. However, both the TV replays and expert analysts support my view that Roberts was fouled twice before losing the ball. If we had conceded a goal in the same manner, we’d all be screaming for a foul.
We were on top for most of the first half, though Sunderland had their moments of pressure. Just before they scored, we struggled to clear our lines, but the defense was standing firm, making crucial headers and blocks. Hackney blocked a shot from Rigg on the penalty spot, and the ball fell kindly to Burgzorg outside the box. Burgzorg tried to hold off Neil but was too weak. Neil then reached the edge of the box with no real options, so he took a hopeful shot. Edmundson did the right thing by putting his body on the line to block it, but the ball bounced cruelly off him, leaving Travers with no chance. If Edmundson hadn’t gone for the block and they scored, we’d all be questioning his effort.
Sunderland’s second goal was avoidable and came from Patterson’s long goal kick after we had pressed high. The ball dropped to Ayling, whose control was poor, though he managed to get it to Morris. However, Morris’s first touch was awful, allowing Cirkin to get a foot in and play the ball to Le Fée. Morris went down looking for a foul—on another day, he might have got it, but the ref had been letting things go, just as he did with the challenge on Roberts. Le Fée’s pass was equal to Hackney’s—he split our defense with a perfect slide-rule ball, and Isidor sat Travers down with ease. He was always going to score from there.
The only goal that came from passing out from the back was Hackney’s equalizer, which resulted from a poor ball by O’Nien under pressure from Azaz.
Sunderland’s winner started with a looping clearance that dropped to Le Fée, who sent Ayling for a taxi. His first touch was brilliant, taking him away from his marker before delivering a dangerous cross. The ball eluded every Sunderland player and cannoned off Giles, who couldn’t sort his feet in time.
As for your other comments - Yes, there was some poor defending at times, but not all the goals were the defenders' fault. Others need to hold their hands up too.
Were Sunderland awful? Far from it. They contributed to a good local game, which are usually drab affairs. I’ve seen far worse games between these two sides, even when they had better players.
Were Sunderland lucky? Very much so but sometimes, you create your own luck.
I agree with you on your other points. Illing-Junior was played out of position and looked lost at times. I’m not sure why Fry didn’t play. Hackney’s and Le Fée’s passes for the goals were sublime, and Hackney’s goal was top-drawer.
I feel Sunderland have been fortunate in both games against us this season. Last night, we were still bedding in new players and missed Doak and a natural forward. Forss is not the answer up front, and hopefully, Iheanacho can replace ELL and lead the line for us.