Sunderland - Ratings / Thoughts

[CaptainMorgans]

Foderingham - 5
Usually a very reliable 7, but his distribution was a little off tonight and he gave us another little scare with a poor low clearance. I hope he cuts that out quickly as it will cost us eventually.
On the goal, I thought he made it easy for Gooch. Anel was coming across and he could have forced him wide.
Outside of that, little to do and was OK. Commands his box well.

Baldock - 6
He's probably our most consistent performer. Defends excellently but doesn't offer much in attack.
He had a couple of opportunities tonight and snatched at them. This is common.
Fortunately for him, he's surrounded by Anel & Berge so we're not as reliant on him for attacking output.
It's crucial that he doesn't get injured with Bogle out long term. He offers nice balance.

Ahmedhodzic - 9
Outstanding. He reads the game well, covers the ground at speed and always looks so assured.
His attacking output is phenomenal. He's taken to our system instantly. A goal and an assist and it could have been more. I don't think anybody in the league has made a signing as good as him this Summer. Superb.

Egan - 6
He defended very well and looks happier to be surrounded by better players. It was a "head it, kick it" type performance and he didn't put a foot wrong... until the goal. He loses a mark for that. It's gift-wrapped and it put us under a lot of unnecessary pressure, when we should have been coasting towards a 3/4-0 win.

Norrington-Davies - 7
He's been gradually improving for a while now. He finished last season strongly with an excellent performance against Forest and he's been quietly very effective this season particularly given he's in an unfamiliar position.
We know he's an athlete and that he defends well but he's starting to come onto the ball now. He's anticipating, stepping forward and he's happy carrying the ball over long distances. It's an underrated asset.
I still want to see more out of him in terms of making runs beyond (Bogle is the master at this) and showing more quality around the box but he's young and improving.

Lowe - 8
His finest game in a Blades shirt. Looks really athletic and he got stuck into several tackles. Used the ball well all night, made good runs and then his movement for the goal was superb.
There's obviously a very good player in there, let's hope he continues to kick on from here.

Norwood - 7
His set pieces were much better tonight and his delivery provided the opener for Anel.
He showed off his passing range and kept us ticking. A few sloppy misplaced passes but will forgive that.
He makes more tackles than he's sometimes given credit for.

Berge - 8
A game of two halves. I thought he was pretty average in the first half, playing next to Norwood as a deep lying midfielder.
He doesn't operate as effectively in tight situations and doesn't look comfortable receiving the ball with his back to goal. He was stifled playing in that crowded area.
Second half was Rolls Royce stuff. Open field, gliding around the park, dropping his shoulder, losing his marker, retaining possession, nearly scoring, nearly assisting.
I wondered whether he could lead our team in MGW's absence and the answer is clearly, yes. He's the heartbeat of this team.
Keep him, resolve the injury crisis and I think we get promoted. We shouldn't entertain offers below his release clause. His value won't deteriorate much, regardless of contract length, if he keeps this form up.

McAtee - 7
You can tell he's a very good footballer. He looks physically more ready than I'd expected too.
He was neat and tidy on the ball and looked to take the ball on the turn (a PL quality).
He struggled at times with the tempo and drifted in and out, but given it was his full debut I think this is to be expected.
He gets an additional mark for getting their man sent off, which changed the complexion of the match.
Excited to see more of him.

Ndiaye - 6
A quiet night for Ndiaye and he went down with cramp around the hour mark again. He's such a talent but I think we need to carefully manage his game time to get the best from him. This should be easier with the new 5-subs rule. I'm not sure whether he can start 2-3 games in a week.
I would be inclined to give Khadra a go from the start on Saturday and let Ndiaye do 20/25 mins from the bench.

Brewster - 6
I've seen people suggesting he was poor and I really disagree. His workrate, hold up and movement are great. He gets into some good areas but isn't being picked out. I've liked what I've seen from him this season.
He has a great shot on him that I'd like to see more of.

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McBurnie - 7
That's what we need to see from him. Put himself about, looked a goal threat and retained the ball high up the field. Played like he had a point to prove.
It's been a long time since he shown us those qualities.

Khadra - 8
As good a performance from a substitute as I've seen from anyone at Bramall Lane.
His touch, vision, pace. Sublime.
As with McBurnie, he looked like he was putting a marker down. Such a promising showing.
I'd start him on Saturday against his old club.

Fleck - 6
Other than moving the ball on and holding our shape, I don't think he did a lot good or bad.
I'm keen to see Doyle given a bit of a run in his place though. I always think Fleck benefits from competition and bit of a rocket.

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

 

[Badger Blade]

I thought we were good on the whole, still improvements to make and after the second goal went in, we should have gone and scored another and put the game beyond doubt.

Of course, the Sheffield United way is to make things hard for ourselves and I had images of Preston away last year, giving away a 2 goal lead to 10 men but managed to come out the other side after more than a couple of harsh lessons last season.

AA was different class (Basham will be on the bench until further notice), Max Lowe played well after the odd heavy touch early on and took his goal well, popping up in the striker's position like Kieron Freeman used to do. Norwood cleared the first man with all his corners and came close to scoring himself - he needs to shoot more often because I'm certain that he's capable of scoring more than one goal every other season. McAtee looked decent on his first outing and even McBurnie looked up for it and threatened the goal, something we've not seen for a very long time.

We seem to have an embarrassment of riches in the attacking midfield areas but also means that we can interchange and have various combinations that give the opposition something to think about. Looking forward to seeing Jayden Bogle back because he'll add to that dimension too as a more attacking wide player than Baldock.

We just need to be absolutely ice cold in games like this and not make silly mistakes like Egan did, playing the ball to McAtee in traffic. If McAtee had got there, the only thing he could have realistically done is play the ball back to Egan in the first place but luckily it didn't cost us in the end. Until then, we had Sunderland on toast and could have given them a real pasting but Gooch took his goal very well and gave them some confidence back when really, the game should have been gone after Lowe's goal.

Sunderland looked ok, particularly at the start and they were good against Coventry, only to be undone by Gyokeres. Not 100% sold on their keeper who looked a bit shaky on occasions but did well not to go to pieces in the second half when he could have had a George Long style meltdown. Warnock was wittering on on Sky's commentary, backing Sunderland for top 6. Not beyond the realms of possibility but there's plenty of competition for those spots when most teams are much of a muchness in this league.