Sunderland v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Merv]

I'm not quite as confident as that - I've seen enough to know we won't go down but we've largely toiled away against some pretty average teams so far. We've beaten the two worst teams in the league.

To finish 7th/8th we need to be beating other top half contenders. We haven't done that yet. The right blend in midfield is still beyond us; if we can get that right, we'll be halfway to finding a team that can finish in the top half. I'd still like McLeish to bring Clark in alongside Dunne and give that partnership six months together.

[fredm]

The thing that worries me is that from shortly after the start of the second half we were totally in control of the match without really looking dangerous.  Nothing was done tactically by use of the subs to try and turn this superiority into goals.  It appeared as if AM was happy to leave it, hope we snatched one and if we didn't, well we've got a draw anyway.

Then, having nicked a goal from a dead ball with only 5 minutes to go, he did make a substitution - he took N'Zogbia off and brought Albrighton on.  I just can't fathom that one out at all - surely we needed to bottle up midfield and close the game out at that point.

I have not slagged AM off before and am prepared to give him a chance but I think he got it wrong big style on saturday and it cost us 2 points.

[supertom]

We desperately need to do something in january. Our midfield is awful. Until we get that right, particularly that central spine, we won't do much. It's also clear that as a front two, we can't play Bent and Agbonlahor, so either he plays Gabby wide, or drops one of them, which is difficult being as they're our two dangermen.

I'd like to see us signing two decent central midfielders. A couple of players who can last 90 minutes, tackle and hopefully play a bit too. Obviously with no money, that'll be difficult. I really don't see much light at the end of the tunnel.

I'd also like to see us sell a couple of centre-backs and buy someone reliable and solid to partner Dunne. So I'd see if we can shift Carlos and Collins.

A couple of fullbacks wouldn't go amiss either.

And whilst I'm going for unrealistic wishes, I wouldn't mind having a 12 inch dinger and a winning lottery ticket. Frankly I see these last two wishes being the more realistic.

[Vanilla]

The thing that worries me is that from shortly after the start of the second half we were totally in control of the match without really looking dangerous.  Nothing was done tactically by use of the subs to try and turn this superiority into goals.  It appeared as if AM was happy to leave it, hope we snatched one and if we didn't, well we've got a draw anyway.

Then, having nicked a goal from a dead ball with only 5 minutes to go, he did make a substitution - he took N'Zogbia off and brought Albrighton on.  I just can't fathom that one out at all - surely we needed to bottle up midfield and close the game out at that point.

I have not slagged AM off before and am prepared to give him a chance but I think he got it wrong big style on saturday and it cost us 2 points.

I can only assume he wanted someone to hold the ball up, as we are the hot potato team of the PL. Anyone who keeps the ball longer than 1.5 seconds seems to worry about getting a burnt foot.