Rage Online

Utter rubbish from the Us. Not seen us play that poorly for a long while.

We were 2nd best in every position and 2nd best in most challenges.

The diamond clearly did not work with a massive hole in midfield and the front 2/3 more or less cut off from the rest of the team.

We just did not compete on any level.

Very disappointing.

And we kept being told that players were now in their preferred positions. Heavens help us if that is the case.

And as for defending set pieces...

I had to keep reminding myself that it really was too early in the season to hit the panic button, but individually and collectively, KR really does not need to earn his corn.

The first half was very scrappy. Neither team seemed to be able to cope with the gusting wind, and the ball was rarely on the floor. What alarmed me was the number of times Sunderland got the ball crossed into our box from wide. I like Sam Long but he looked very out of place at left back on Saturday. And Clare doesn't look like a full back at all. No defensive qualities evident. If he's our first choice right back this season then god help us. But it was even at the break, and we'd arguably had the best chance with Matt Taylor's header from a superb deep cross from Sykes.

Second half was a different story, as we basically crumbled. Sunderland were sharper, stronger and more switched on. The first goal benefitted from a large slice of luck, but the second was appalling defending. I really worry about our defence as a whole (especially without Ruffels), and have seen nothing from the two new midfielders (Kelly and McGuane) to suggest that they are going to offer any meaningful protection.

But it's the lack of quality on the ball which was most depressing. Last season, even when losing games we were attractive to watch and created chances. Saturday's game wouldn't have looked out of place in League 2 or even lower. We strung together two good moves all match, both of which resulted in decent chances (Brannagan's blocked shot and Sykes forcing the keeper to save from an angle). But that was it for 90 minutes. It's going to be a long old season at this rate.

Oh, and the French grammar in the post title is even sloppier than our football!

Qu'est-ce que c'est??

You realise it is a play on words re the Paris entertainment venue of the Victorian era?

OtmoorYellow wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 10:41 am Qu'est-ce que c'est??

You realise it is a play on words re the Paris entertainment venue of the Victorian era?

No. I thought you'd just neglected to pluralise the noun and agree the adjective (les chats noirs)!

Kernow Yellow wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 12:17 pm

OtmoorYellow wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 10:41 am Qu'est-ce que c'est??

You realise it is a play on words re the Paris entertainment venue of the Victorian era?

No. I thought you'd just neglected to pluralise the noun and agree the adjective (les chats noirs)!

Had I intended that, I would have got it wrong anyway!