As I sat down to type this week’s Editorial column and thought about what I wanted to talk about, I couldn’t get Habib Diarra out of my mind. I highly doubt that any of you need me to explain why, but I shall.
Sunderland’s unbelievable quickfire comeback at Aston Villa on Sunday almost reached its perfect completion when a through ball found Diarra, and as he found himself one versus one against Emi Martinez — the man twice voted as the best goalkeeper in the world — he came out the loser. He opted
to try and lift the ball over him, and to the credit of Martinez, he pulled off a fantastic reflex stop to deny Sunderland the winner.
The misery was further compounded as just moments later, Villa managed to go down the other end and stick the ball in the net. The Premier League is absolutely brutal, and instead of talking about an amazing effort to come back from 3-1 down, most of the conversation was — unfairly, in my opinion — centred around Diarra.
I sort of get it, though. When emotions are high, people are going to point the finger of blame, particularly considering he had such a great opportunity to win us all three points against a brilliant side.
Hindsight is wonderful. Aye, I think he should have just done what Wilson Isidor did and buried the ball either side of the goalie, but in that split second, he thought his best chance to do it was to lift it. It never came off, and that’s just shite for him and shite for us, but it’s hardly the crime of the century. He could have gone either side of Martinez and, equally, missed or had his shot saved. It required a real moment of clarity and quality, and that’s unfortunately not always something you get with young players.
Once again, I opened social media and saw the abuse levelled at him. It shouldn’t really surprise me, but it was there, and rather than seeing fair criticisms of his decision-making, there was just bile everywhere. Bile that I imagine he’s probably read. I’m sure he already feels great about himself, so seeing fans of his own team giving him stick will have only made him feel ten times better.
I don’t get why people feel the need to immediately rush to social media to vent their spleen. Maybe they should introduce some sort of grace period where your tweets are held for a few minutes before they’re published, and in that time you can opt to delete them before it’s published… I dunno, I’m open to better suggestions. But we’re better than giving young players stick online, and I wish some of our own would remember that.
Anyways, rant over. I absolutely hate losing, but I don’t especially mind getting beaten if I can come away and say the Lads gave their all, and I think that we can say that without any doubt that they did.
All three of Sunderland’s goals were absolutely quality, and it gave me a sense of pride when all three goalscorers were lads that came through the EFL with us and have successfully made the step up.
Chris Rigg’s first-ever Premier League goal was a corker. I think he’s really turned a corner recently, and you can see the stark improvement in his all-round game in recent weeks. That was the finish of a proper top-level footballer in the making, and the type of goal I’ve been wishing we’d see from him all season.
Similarly, Trai Hume’s first goal in the top flight was a belting finish. He’s got so much more in his locker than a tough tackle, and this finish was proof of that — he absolutely spanked it past Martinez, who, as I said before, is one of the best goalkeepers on the planet.
Then came the Wilson Isidor goal, which really ought to have earned us at least a point. Considering he’s not scored since October and has barely had a sniff recently, that was the finish of a player who is capable of performing at the top level if he’s switched on and you give him the right kind of opportunities. It was typical Isidor — quick, alert, off the shoulder of the last man, and an instinctive finish. I absolutely loved that goal and would rank it right near the top when it comes to the best goals we’ve scored all season — it was lush.
Aston Villa, a team who look certain to finish in a Champions League spot, have so much quality. Just look at who they were able to bring on off the bench, for instance — right now, they’re at a different level than us, and there’s no shame in losing to them. Yet this season, I’d bet they haven’t had too many tougher challengers over the two games than Sunderland, and I think that says a lot for how good we actually are.
Instead of dwelling on the negatives this week, I’m going to carry all of these positives forward as we head towards the Forest game, because we know we’re capable of taking three points and putting ourselves even closer to the teams above us and, importantly, those European places.
There’s absolutely nowt to be gained at this stage from dwelling too much on the negatives. We need that uber-positive atmosphere that was coming out of the club after the Newcastle and Spurs wins to carry us forward as we head into a run of games that will most certainly define our season — let’s do this.
