John Wilson says…
This football club!
Back in the Stadium of Light with the sun shining.
The wind spoilt proceedings a little, but the crowd was up for it at the start. The fourteen legends were announced and the international fans were given their day, showcasing that on and off the pitch, things are moving in the right direction.
Nordi Mukiele’s display
Great to see him back.
He’s a Rolls Royce, and if you don’t shoot, you can’t score. Deflection or not — a welcome win.
Hesitancy from Robin Roefs
He’s a great goalkeeper and I hope we can keep him, but the way he slows the game down at almost
every opportunity is starting to get really annoying.
Without doubt, there’ll be folks who totally disagree with me. Fair enough, but he puts his foot on the ball, has a look around and puts his foot on the ball again, and it does my head in.
His distribution is top class, so let’s see more of it, but quicker. He’s also been caught out when wandering towards the halfway line once this season, and I’m sure it must be coached, because in his first few games, his speed when getting rid of the ball was a breath of fresh air.
A lack of killer instinct
Spurs were there for the taking.
They had no confidence and no plan, but we tried our hardest to let them off the hook. Poor decision making in the final third, and sloppy passing. Luckily, we had a goal to hang onto, but we showed them far too much respect.
Jon Guy says…
A great three points
We were well in control without needed to go through the gears.
A very composed team performance against a Spurs starting eleven which cost £350 million. Perfect to kick on for the remainder of the season!
Brian Brobbey just gets better
The big man was immense again.
He may not have scored but he ran the centre halves ragged. He’s got goals in him and he’s player we’ve really been searching for, as we were crying out for a striker who can hold the ball up.
Poor decisions in the final third
A second goal would’ve settled this as a contest.
The final ball needs to be better and there were occasions where we had players free in the box but the wrong pass was made.
Something for the training ground but we’re dynamic when we’re going forward.
Another slow start
We faced a team down on confidence and clearly looking to put a new system in place.
Régis Le Bris didn’t have the luxury of knowing what to expect, and a positive high tempo start would’ve put Spurs on the back foot. We grew into the game as it wore on, but it would be good to come out of the traps more quickly.
Joseph Tulip says…
Building crucial momentum
It was important that we built on the derby win and we stepped up to the task against Spurs with a really solid, committed team performance.
With most of our injured players available again, we’re building momentum going into the run-in and are now back into the top ten.
Solid foundations laid down
Our story of Premier League survival has been built on a strong defence, and the Tottenham match was a prime example of this.
With Robin Roefs, Nordi Mukiele and Reinildo restored to the starting eleven, we’re getting closer to full strength at the back. We were well organised and limited Tottenham’s output to the point where they tried to change things from the bench to no avail.
Luke O’Nien did well in the continued absence of Dan Ballard, but for me, the pick of our defenders was Omar Alderete.
Brobbey leading the line
Like many top flight sides this season, Tottenham couldn’t cope with Brobbey’s physical presence and the way he plays with his back to goal, holding the ball up and bringing others into play is constantly menacing.
We created quite a lot of chances and probably should’ve scored more, but did enough to win the game.
Habib Diarra returns to form
All of our midfielders contributed to what was a good all-round team performance but with the spotlight on Diarra, he didn’t fail to impress.
He was neat and tidy on the ball, pressing and tackling, but also making incisive forward runs like we were used to seeing earlier in the season.
He missed a good opportunity to play in Enzo. Le Fée, opting for Brobbey instead during the second half, but it’ll be good to see him keep up this level of performance for the remainder of the campaign.
Lars Knutsen says…
Another solid team performance
The win was less spectacular than the one on Tyneside, but there was a lot to admire about our application in this match.
The midfield and defence applied themselves well, and we’ve conceded less goals — thirty six — than all but the top two Premier League teams. That’s an amazing stat for a newly-promoted team.
A single and decisive goal
OK, it was a deflection, but margins are tight — as we found in our last three home matches, which were narrow defeats.
Lots of credit to Nordi Mukiele for driving forward in the way he showed. You’ve got to shoot to score, and he did.
More firepower needed?
Clearly we are all delighted with the win, but I’m a bit disappointed that we don’t have a proven striker to bring on.
We should’ve signed one in January, given Wilson Isidor’s recent lack of appearances — and I feel that has to be a priority for the summer transfer window.
Did we show Spurs too much respect?
I don’t like to sound negative, but Tottenham are in deep trouble after West Ham’s spirited Friday win over Wolves, so should we as a team be more ambitious and go looking for more than a single-goal victory?
I guess there are no easy games in this league.
Mark Wood says…
No slacking off from Sunderland
Before we played Newcastle, I felt our form was falling off a cliff and there was a fear there that after making the magic forty-point mark, it was “job done” for the season and results would taper out until the end of the campaign — except they haven’t.
One feature of this Sunderland team this season is that they’ve kept grinding out the wins, recovering points when they’re behind and holding on to them when in front.
With another win yesterday, if anything, we’re coming back into form and eyeing the places above us.
The cavalry returns just in time!
There were some welcome returns from injury — notably Robin Roefs, Reinildo and Nordi Mukiele, and we look a much more solid team with them in our line up.
Being not far off a full-strength team, we can be confident of picking up a few more results over the remainder of the season.
Although a European spot might theoretically be only one point ahead of us at this stage, I feel more confident that we can at least secure a top-half finish — which would be an achievement we dared to imagine before the season kicked off.
VAR helps us out for a change
I still hate VAR for all kinds of traditionalist reasons — not least the way it breaks up a game — but it keeps providing me for reasons to at least call a truce with it.
Yesterday, VAR came to our rescue again, because the referee gave a penalty to Tottenham which he was never going to reconsider even with a gun pointed at the head of his grandmother, until he was told by VAR to go and view it on the pitchside monitor.
It would’ve possibly meant Sunderland going 0-1 down and then it could’ve been a very different outcome to the match — with Tottenham in serious trouble, they would’ve had a different game plan if they had a lead.
I have to give a nod of thanks to VAR. Again.
Brian Brobbey leads the way again
Brobbey didn’t get on the scoresheet and I’m not even sure if he had a shot on target, but it was one of those days where you just couldn’t underestimate his contribution if you were watching the game.
We’ve begun to appreciate just how much of a handful he is for opposition defences as the season has gone on, and you just had to look at the multi-yellow carded, substituted and bandaged Tottenham backline and goalkeeper to understand what he brings to our side.
His hold-up play was exceptional and the way he was able to link with Habib Diarra — who looks like he’s starting to come back into form — shows promise for the remainder of the season.
