Sunderland started the game well and put our back four under a fair bit of pressure. But those lads stood firm and gave us a platform from which to build. Once Ugbo opened the scoring, we grew in confidence and in the end, outclassed them. Lindsay had a great debut (apart from one aberration in the first half) and the defence as a whole gave their best performance of the season. Jackson has his critics, but I thought he was excellent today. Two lovely finishes from Barnes & Moncur gave the scoreline a more realistic look. All our young lads gave their all for the cause today. They may not always make the right decision, but the commitment was there and some of our play was an utter delight to watch. Personally, I'd have given Hammill MOTM, but have no objections to Potts getting it. He, like Jackson, has his critics, but today he gave his best performance in a Barnsley shirt by a country mile. Well done, lads. You've made this Victor Meldrew a very happy old man today.
We've shown in glimpses going forward in every home game so far, Jeff,but defensively have been shaky. Today we've been much more solid at the back without losing anything from our attacking play. If we can improve our away performances and results, we might surprise one or two teams again this season, old mate.
Glad to hear that mate. Seemed to be an air of despondency here pre-season & for the first few games. Hope this is a turning point.
I wouldn't go so far as saying it's a turning point, but if you can't enjoy watching your team play well against opposition who last season were in the Premier League, deserve a thumping victory in such lovely weather, then perhaps Barnsley aren't the team for you!
I too was impressed with Hammill and particularly liked the way he linked up with McCarthy on our right flank.
totally agreed mate. I for one totally enjoyed watching that . As you say the first 15 mins or so was a bit worrying. But we settled and just got better and better. Some of the link up play from us was very encouraging to say the least. A few very heartwarming moments for me too.... the volume the fans gave to "he's one of our own" to Hecky was great and he must have taken a lift from that. Also its been a long time since our fans felt it apt to chant the " it's just like watching Brazil"...... and the " OLÉS" as we put pass after pass together. I do feel that there were some flaws in the performance today, but Hecky has also said that too, and he will have noted and now work on that. I cannot ever be a Meldrew like you but I can as Grumpy discuss with my fellow dwarves a good reult
Spot on. Think we're both "experienced" enough to enjoy the good times when they come along - knowing full well there's a poor result/performance around the corner.
it's exciting to think that from that squad we are still to see; Isgrove, McGeehan, Cavare and Fryers Plus sounds like we'll be trying to get another striker and a centre midfielder in before deadline. Sure Hecky and the squad will only benefit from the next couple of weeks together. Makes you realise the difference between a "coach" like Hecky who talks of working with players not in the squad (e.g. Mallan) and a "manager" like Bruce or Redknapp who just say the players are crap and go and spunk a few more million on new signings. Well done lads. I shall go on holiday more often if it means results like that
An old friend I had was just wondering if you could just Keith a guy in a couple days and he would say no to me that you can have set the time in your time before he goes back out there and then he says that you are the wrong person to say that
I truly believe our results could be patchy to start with, but at the risk of repeating what's been said by others already, when we have our full squad together and they get used to how each other play, we'll win more than we lose. If today's performance is anything to go by, we now know that the basic talent is there. I truly believe that after another five games or so together they will start to deliver consistent performances. A season of consolidation would do for me and if Hecky is then allowed to keep them together, we could have a real go at promotion in 2018/19 , unless of course we get the new owners in who give him the money to sign some proven quality to speed up the whole process. My brother-in-law (Sunderland fan) was quite surprised with the ease at which his team capitulated and is already tipping them as candidates for the drop. He was very complimentary about the Reds and thinks that on today's showing ,any early concerns that we are in for anything other than successful season, are probably unfounded.
To back up what your brother-in-law said about Barnsley, I thought it was interesting to see the Sunderland fans who remained at the final whistle applauding our lads off the pitch, just a few minutes after hurling abuse at their own team.
