Just got home from Durham after staying overnight with family, thoughts on last night:

I thought that Sunderland were quite good last night, a lot better than many seem to be crediting them for, although the diamond was a poor choice of formation for us to use against a team who are in great form and have been finding a lot of success in attacking the wings, through James Mclean in particular. They exposed our right hand side duo of Martin and Crofts right from the start, both men failed to deal with McClean, even when doubling up, which was rare seeing as Crofts was often awol, leading to Johnson and Hoolahan often being dragged out of position.

Martin looks tired and unconvincing at right back whereas Crofts just looks very short of premiership quality; a poor touch, limited passing range, lack of vision and inability to keep up with the pace of games at this level seem to confirm this. It's a shame because I was really willing him to do well after last seasons heroics, but the Gary Holt cmparisons that i've seen below are very apt, if a little harsh. I believe that Jonny Howson has been signed as a replacement for Crofts, which atleast shows good planning by Lambert.

Having said this about Crofts and Martin (or the fruitcakes, according to Lambert!), none of the Norwich players can come out of that game feeling too proud of themselves (barring Ruddy). Naughton was poor, although he was exposed by our non existent midfield which seemed to lose all shape, Whitbread was slow to read dangerous situations, Ayala wanted far too much time on the ball, Johnson was weak in the challenge, Surman went missing for periods of the game, Hoolahan had zero end product while Holt and Morison were sloppy with their control and wasted a couple of good chances.

I'm sure last night was just a one off abberation, I don't expect such a poor set up from Lambert and soft attitude from the players on saturday. A strong performance and 3 points will make last night forgivable, despite the performance reminding me of a 'classic' worthington away day. ILWT, etc.

Posted By: Common Sense Police on February 2nd 2012 at 18:10:05

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