by stmichael » Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:37 am
Strange game really. I was really encouraged by what I saw in the first half when the game really should have been dead and buried. Adam, Downing and Suarez were all excellent in an attacking sense. Infact Adam was the best player on the pitch in the first half but faded badly along with the rest of the team which was a strange one. We lloked really tired in the second half and Sunderland seemed a lot fitter than us.
I'm not going to knee jerk though. People need to realise that this side is going to need 5 or 6 games to gel together. Of the team that started at the weekend, only four (Reina, Agger, Carra, Lucas) are long standing members of this side. Four were making their competitive debuts (Adam, Downing, Enrique, Henderson) and the other three have only played a handful of games for us (Suarez, Carroll, Flanagan). Suarez looked absolutely knackered to me when he came off, Flanagan is still a kid learning the game and Carroll still isn't fullly fit and missed most of the second half of last season with injury.