I'm not sure that people understand the way Sunderland are playing here.
Sunderland are playing a defensive style - that is as old as the hills in football. the tactic is to give the opposition the ball, invite them to break us down and the deal is that we will try and score on the break. This is a quite legitimate tactic that has won teams European Cups, league titles, Euros and major cup ties, especially in Europe.
You have two ways of looking at it. you can either say "we were all over them" or you can recognise that if the opposition plays this way they are quite happy to, for example, give Coventry City the ball 75% of the time, and have loads of attacks. We are inviting constant and sustained pressure.
We played this way against Sheffield United at the SOL earlier on this year and won 2 v 1, with goals from Isidor and Mayenda - exactly the same as the first leg against Coventry. The second leg against Coventry we were happy for them to have 75% of the possession and in 120 minutes they were so "all over us" that they scored 1 goal, drew and lost.
If we play this way at Wembley, which is very likely because we have played this way loads of times this season - Sheffield United will more than likely have 75% of the possession and will be "all over us". We couldn't care less. We are happy for this to happen. the opposition will tire - hopefully, as coventry did in the second game.
Coventry City could score just 2 goals in 210 minutes of football - that's it. We had 25% of the ball in both games and scored 3 goals. They had chances and missed. we had chances and missed - par for the course.
People in general don't like this style of football and sometimes they call it "anti football". That's fine. But the end justifies the means - if we win. There is nothing "lucky" about this if we win; it has been shown many times to be a deliberate and winning tactic. Football managers became world famous for playing this way eg Herrera.
We all go into this game knowing how Sunderland may well play and it's up to Sheffield United to break us down - if we do play in this defensive manner. If Sheffield United break us down and score 2 or 3 goals then they are worthy winners. If you don't and we score a goal or goals on the break then we are worthy winners and our tactic has worked.
But the tactic remains the same - give the opposition the ball, invite them on and we will look to counter you. The possession result will be the same as the Coventry game 75% v 25%. That's just fine by us and we are happy for you to be "all over us". Risk and reward.
