Matty Done

[Revolution]

Mcnulty disappears too much ,Adams doesn't have the brains to play down the middle ,if Davies could keep his fitness ,(must admit I don't know what his current injury is) he looked better than the others to me.

Davies is always injured.

Don't we have enough crocks for you?

 

[boo radley]

If Davies is always injured fair enough but him and Done were striking up a great partnership towards end of last season.
The thing with Sharp and Done is they both get out wide at times and supply good balls in to the box where either will be should one be wide.
This has been cried out for since the start of the season but we have had little chance to try it due to Done s injuries.
That Portmouth player has no chance of supplying the work rate needed.

 

[Silent Blade]

I wish !!!

I guess I am from the Arsene Wenger school rather than the Tony Pullis school. Accept both can be effective and probably more so as you go down the leagues.

I just happen to think we actually have decent out balls via Done (over the top) and Sharp (to feet and ONLY to feet) that effectively give you the options you require. The only thing we lack is an utterly dominant CF (Andy Carroll type) who can win flick headers on for the pacey striker to run on to I.e. Proper route 1 stuff.

But let's face it, traditional target men are fast becoming a rarity across he divisions. The modern game demands more "rounded" players, not just big strong lumps akin to Hulk Hogan !

UTB

If Sunderland had appointed an Arsene Wegner type of manager rather than Big Sam then it would be unlikely for them to escape relegation. To be successful in the way you would love us to play then we need quality players and that could take a long time. We have changed too many managers in the last 9 years

 

[Woodwardfan]

If Davies is always injured fair enough but him and Done were striking up a great partnership towards end of last season.
The thing with Sharp and Done is they both get out wide at times and supply good balls in to the box where either will be should one be wide.
This has been cried out for since the start of the season but we have had little chance to try it due to Done s injuries.
That Portmouth player has no chance of supplying the work rate needed.

Sorry Boo it's just not true that Davies and Done had a good partnership. apart from a couple of games Clough played Davies on his own up front and Done was on the bench.

 

[Woodwardfan]

If Sunderland had appointed an Arsene Wegner type of manager rather than Big Sam then it would be unlikely for them to escape relegation. To be successful in the way you would love us to play then we need quality players and that could take a long time. We have changed too many managers in the last 9 years

The problem for KM and subsequently the prince and KM is that they have not had the luxury of seeing a manger do a big enough job to turn us round.

Once they do see a man who can do this very big job I'm sure they'll stick with him but in football it's entirely possible some other bigger club will whisk him away.

If Adkins doesn't make progress over say 2 years and let's be right, he has not made much progress yet, far from it, I think we will be looking at Chris Wilder who looks as though he knows the ropes from the evidence of Northampton and his last side Oxford. At least Chris would stick with us long term.

Whether Chris is a big enough man to lift us two levels who knows?

Very hard in Shit Creek.

 

[DronnieBlade]

If Sunderland had appointed an Arsene Wegner type of manager rather than Big Sam then it would be unlikely for them to escape relegation. To be successful in the way you would love us to play then we need quality players and that could take a long time. We have changed too many managers in the last 9 years

Conveniently overlooking the fact that a very high percentage of managers, across the board and not just the elite divisions such as Prem / La Liga etc., no longer use a target man of any description. I have to disagree about your Wenger analogy btw.

I have been more than a bit surprised at just how may L1 teams play possession football, often using full backs, Centre Backs and Central Midfielders to receive the ball from goal kicks rather than employing the (perhaps dated) tactic of lumping goal kicks towards a big un and hoping (and the word hoping is the thrust of it) that either the balls sticks or that we can pick the "bits" up from a 2nd phase.

Hang on to the 80s if you must. But football has moved on.

I would suggest so should we !!

In response to your comment "To be successful in the way you would love us to play". Don't know if you have missed this, but this is EXACTLY what we are doing under Adkins !!

UTB

 

[Silent Blade]

In response to your comment "To be successful in the way you would love us to play". Don't know if you have missed this, but this is EXACTLY what we are doing under Adkins !!

UTB

Adkins has admitted that we have gone back to basics and altered our style since November. We are now getting better results. Done is a far better player than McNulty

 

[sheffielder]

Sorry Boo it's just not true that Davies and Done had a good partnership. apart from a couple of games Clough played Davies on his own up front and Done was on the bench.

Done was doing very well by himself until Clough brought in Davies.

 

[boo radley]

Sorry Boo it's just not true that Davies and Done had a good partnership. apart from a couple of games Clough played Davies on his own up front and Done was on the bench.

Did you see the 'were'. Indicating that it was developing. When they were playing together it looked good.

 

[DronnieBlade]

Adkins has admitted that we have gone back to basics and altered our style since November. We are now getting better results. Done is a far better player than McNulty

Back to basics in that we have tightened up defensively. Nothing to do with target men or offensive play patterns.

How I have seen this put in to action is that the general line of our midfield players is now much nearer to the defensive line. In the first few months of the season, our midfielders were far too disconnected to our defenders, with acres of space between the lines that was consistently being exploited.

Quite what this has to do with using a target man I don't know.

I agree that Done IS a better option to play with Sharp than McNuts. That said, in the system that Adkins uses, a frontline of McNuts & Sharp would fare better than Sammon & Sharp.

I fear that we are stuck with Sammon and that his arse will be firmly routed to the bench for most of what's left of the season. £10k + per week for a fourth choice striker, IMHO is utter madness.

UTB

 

[Woodwardfan]

Did you see the 'were'. Indicating that it was developing. When they were playing together it looked good.

OK -in the odd couple of games - fine.

 

[Silent Blade]

Back to basics in that we have tightened up defensively. Nothing to do with target men or offensive play patterns.

How I have seen this put in to action is that the general line of our midfield players is now much nearer to the defensive line. In the first few months of the season, our midfielders were far too disconnected to our defenders, with acres of space between the lines that was consistently being exploited.

Quite what this has to do with using a target man I don't know.

I agree that Done IS a better option to play with Sharp than McNuts. That said, in the system that Adkins uses, a frontline of McNuts & Sharp would fare better than Sammon & Sharp.

I fear that we are stuck with Sammon and that his arse will be firmly routed to the bench for most of what's left of the season. £10k + per week for a fourth choice striker, IMHO is utter madness.

UTB

We have cut out the ineffective tippy tappy style especially at the back

 

[Dec]

If he can get better at making his runs in behind the opposition defense (such as how Will Grigg was doing against us on Tuesday), he'll bag even more goals. At the moment, I'd label a lot of his goals as 'opportunistic', which of course isn't a bad thing.

It's important to remember that he's not been brought up to play in the role he's playing, so I'm sure he'll still be learning and improving every week.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

I would still have Davies here now.

I thought he was decent. My only concern with him was his injury record. And I think it’s come to pass as someone said on another thread he’s been out since October. When fit, he looked a very useful foil for someone like Done, Adams or now Sharp.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

We have cut out the ineffective tippy tappy style especially at the back

"Tippy tappy" reached its peak against Fleetwood where it was ineffective in shutting up those who like to boo, but was very effective in taking the opposition to pieces.

Coaching, pitches, players, tactics, the laws of the game - everything is geared to passing football.

It's just modern football, and has been for about ten years at least.

Allardyce and Pulis are exceptions, but they just prove the rule.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

If he can get better at making his runs in behind the opposition defense (such as how Will Grigg was doing against us on Tuesday), he'll bag even more goals. At the moment, I'd label a lot of his goals as 'opportunistic', which of course isn't a bad thing.

It's important to remember that he's not been brought up to play in the role he's playing, so I'm sure he'll still be learning and improving every week.

His biggest weakness is not linking play. There were a couple of times on Tuesday where he didn't make incredibly basic runs - but it's just part of the package.

This is where Sammon (the Scapegoat) is a much better player, though he may be less of a direct goal threat, though he may be more of an indirect goal threat.

Swings and Roundabouts.

 

[DronnieBlade]

"Tippy tappy" reached its peak against Fleetwood where it was ineffective in shutting up those who like to boo, but was very effective in taking the opposition to pieces.

Coaching, pitches, players, tactics, the laws of the game - everything is geared to passing football.

It's just modern football, and has been for about ten years at least.

Allardyce and Pulis are exceptions, but they just prove the rule.

Agree with this WHF.

As regards Big Sam and Pullis.

Did Klopp recently throw a strop that a Pullis WBA side was persistently lumping balls forward and was he very critical of this ?

Did Pullis subsequently prove that during the entire 90 minutes of the match, WBA played 3 more "long" balls than Liverpool did ?

Perception over reality ?????

But your right. Football has moved on. Thankfully under our previous and current manager, it would appear so are we !!

UTB.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Agree with this WHF.

As regards Big Sam and Pullis.

Did Klopp recently throw a strop that a Pullis WBA side was persistently lumping balls forward and was he very critical of this ?

Did Pullis subsequently prove that during the entire 90 minutes of the match, WBA played 3 more "long" balls than Liverpool did ?

Perception over reality ?????

But your right. Football has moved on. Thankfully under our previous and current manager, it would appear so are we !!

UTB.

I like Pulis. And fwiw I'm glad when someone provides an alternative way of playing the game.

I don't really follow Division 1 at all but I do know a few years ago Coerver market leaders in junior football were working at Stoke under Pulis, so he's certainly not one dimensional.

I'm reading the Numbers Game atm and they make a pretty good case that there's no such thing as English, Spanish, or Italian football any more. There's just European football.

All these Leagues play minor variations on the theme of passing and possession.

I think the technical quality of football is light years ahead of where it was when I was a kid. Division 4 players can now score free kicks that you used to have to wait for World Cups to see.

Target men, ruthless centre halves, hoofing it into the stand, flying wingers heading for the byline and much more are generally anachronisms.

There are frequent calls for the return of any or all of the above but the game has moved on and I can't see it moving back any time soon.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Back to basics in that we have tightened up defensively. Nothing to do with target men or offensive play patterns.

How I have seen this put in to action is that the general line of our midfield players is now much nearer to the defensive line. In the first few months of the season, our midfielders were far too disconnected to our defenders, with acres of space between the lines that was consistently being exploited.

Quite what this has to do with using a target man I don't know.

I agree that Done IS a better option to play with Sharp than McNuts. That said, in the system that Adkins uses, a frontline of McNuts & Sharp would fare better than Sammon & Sharp.

I fear that we are stuck with Sammon and that his arse will be firmly routed to the bench for most of what's left of the season. £10k + per week for a fourth choice striker, IMHO is utter madness.

UTB

He was first choice at Old Trafford.

Sammon links play well. Done doesn't.

He may get hounded out of the club by the haters. I hope not bc on form and with support he does a very good job.

 

[Hodgyman]

Are you a teenager? I remember when I was a teenager I thought target men were a waste of time. Since then, over the years I realise more and more the usefulness of having a good target man in a team.

They are only useful if the are a GOOD target man. Sadly Sammon does not fall into that category.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

They are only useful if the are a GOOD target man. Sadly Sammon does not fall into that category.

Sammon has had any number of good and effective games for us this season.

 

[Hodgyman]

Few, if any, posters on here have not mentioned the positives of Done's harassment of defenders and goalkeepers deep in their territory to unsettle them and rush them into hurried passes out from their defensive areas. This has made it easier for us to regain possession further up the field, helping our midfielders and defenders. This is defending from the front in a similar manner to Ian Rush. The knowledgeable Bill Shankly described Rush as his team's best defender.
Done's goals to minutes played ratio seems to me (without detailed analysis on my part) much better than Sammon's too.

People should also remember that Matt was out of playing action for quite a while too at the early part of the season and it does take a while to get up to match fit as was the case with Hammond Coutts and Woolford.

Get behind Matt and see just what he will do for us, just like he did last season.

 

[Lane Ender]

I would still have Davies here now.

I was going to say something on another thread but he had a nice touch, played others in well and could finish .
Would have liked to see him with a decent strike partner at this level

 

[Torrix1889]

A fit Matty Done for the run in will be the difference for me..... I think he contributes a lot more than most

 

[Silent Blade]

They are only useful if the are a GOOD target man. Sadly Sammon does not fall into that category.

Fully agree, never rated Sammon. Have noticed since we signed him he isnt strong in the air

 

[Silent Blade]

Few, if any, posters on here have not mentioned the positives of Done's harassment of defenders and goalkeepers deep in their territory to unsettle them and rush them into hurried passes out from their defensive areas. This has made it easier for us to regain possession further up the field, helping our midfielders and defenders. This is defending from the front in a similar manner to Ian Rush. .

I have mentioned that in here last year

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

Fully agree, never rated Sammon. Have noticed since we signed him he isnt strong in the air

Silent , you are right . He is not strong in the air or hair .

We better start to appreciate him , I think he is with us until the end of the season , so his attributes have to help us into the play offs.

UTB

 

[Silent Blade]

The knowledgeable Bill Shankly described Rush as his team's best defender.

Are you sure it was Bill Shankly who said that? Bill died in October 1981 before Ian Rush had regular starts for Liverpool. I am sure it was Dave Bassett who first mentioned that in December 1990 after Liverpool beat us 2-0 at Anfield. Rush had unsettled Simon Tracey who was trying to roll out the ball to kick it long to Deane and it led to their second goal

 

[sheffielder]

The team is now full of workers. Done, Sharp will put a shift in from the top and that's how it should be. midfield needs a bit of work in regards to pressing but I think it's going in the right direction, just hopefully not too late.

 

[Hodgyman]

Are you sure it was Bill Shankly who said that? Bill died in October 1981 before Ian Rush had regular starts for Liverpool. I am sure it was Dave Bassett who first mentioned that in December 1990 after Liverpool beat us 2-0 at Anfield. Rush had unsettled Simon Tracey who was trying to roll out the ball to kick it long to Deane and it led to their second goal

I stand corrected yet again. I am sure that it was the manager of Liverpool who was accredited to that quote, which ever one it was. The team of that era had numerous internationals in defence at that time too.