jamiemaher85 Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 (edited) This weeks Talking To The Enemy has been brought to you by www.blackcatchat.net 1- What is your assesment of your season? Bone Idle Wild Mackem: A massive disappointment. We've failed to kick on from a decent position and establish ourselve in the top flight in a way that most fans hoped we would have given the money we spent and the players we attracted. Mismanagement at every level has led to that. Giddup Sausage: Poor. Poor performances by the players has left us right in the shite, added to that we lost Keano and ended up with a manager thats not doing the business. More than anything poor referees, yet again, have put us even more in the shite. Jeff Winters league (see his website) had us around 8th place if ref decisions hadn't gone against us so much. I think refs must all fucking hate Sunderland... Leadbelly: Disappointing to say the least. Niall Quinn has managed to get the cash together, we have assembled the most talented bunch of players we have ever had and then Roy Keane walks away at the first sign of trouble (the coward) and Niall blows it by appointing a man with no experience and little will to take the job in the first place. The players have underperformed and our season, like so many of them, finishes as a nail biter. The Exhile: Once Keane left we had to go into survival mode, staying up became the priority when beforehand we were looking to push on into comfortable mid-table. It's been desperately poor bearing in mind the level of investment. 2- Ricky Sbragia started his managerial tenure well but now seems to be just ambelling along. Do you think he is the right man to push you forwards? Bone Idle Wild Mackem: Certainly not. Ricky never was the right man for the job and he has done nothing to suggest that he would be the man who'd take us forward. If anything we're regressing under his stewardship. Giddup Sausage: Nope. Hopefully he can keep us up and its job done imo. After that we need a more dynamic manager who can pull players up here like Keano did. Without that we wont get the players we need to push on. Leadbelly: Most definitely not. He has been a shocking appointment and, with hindsight, was successful simply because he wasn't Roy Keane. I sincerely hope that he is not around next season. The Exhile: Never appoint the man the players want. We got an initial bounce which could be attributed to the relief from Keane's iron fist, but after that you feel the players aren't really listening and Ricky's not forthright enough to make them listen. We've gone from one extreme to the other. 3-Now that the dust has setteled. What do you think about the whole Roy Keane situation. Bone Idle Wild Mackem: I still partially resent that Keane walked out on us at a time when we needed a strong character most. There's a lot of stories about Ellis Short's involvement in that, and if true then they're pretty unsavoury in my opinion. I wish him luck at Ipswich and I've got a feeling that he'll have learnt from his time here and Ipswich will reap the benefits from that. It's my opinion that when Keane left, all our ambition seemed to go with him. Giddup Sausage: 50/50. He shouldnt have walked out like a bairn because the board were asking questions, but at the same time our players (and some fans) shouldnt have went on like bairns with the way he was running things. Our club was going places with exciting players and professionalism throughout until the players spat their dummies out and performances suffered. Leadbelly: Roy Keane behaved like a coward. He arrived declaring that SAFC was his destiny and then walked out at the first sign of trouble. He certainly managed to raise our profile and got us promoted but the way he quit has left a bitter taste and I'm very disappointed in him. Some of his signings and behaviour in the transfer market was ridiculous and we now have the 4th biggest squad in the Premiership but absolutely no strength in depth (fuck it, we've barely got any strength in the shallows) The Exhile: Well, he created the situation himself really. Too much stick and not enough carrot at the end, he alienated too many of the players. In the Championship he was able to inspire players with his presence alone, but the better players we brought in probably needed to see more in terms of coaching and motivation. It seemed to be the hairdryer only towards the end. He had lost the plot, but he might have regained it if he hadn't gone before the two very winnable games that secured the job for Sbragia. If Roy's learned from it it'll be to Ipswich's benefit. 4-The press talk about two of your strikers quite alot. Do you feel that Jones is worth the money that he is touted for and do you believe that Cisse has done enough to warrent splashing the cash? Bone Idle Wild Mackem: think Jones has had a rough season. Everyone seems to forget that he had a career threatening injury not so long ago, so to have come back and played as much as he has been needed to has been a big ask of him. On his day he's unplayable, it's just that this season those days have occurred much less regularly than last. In my opinion Cisse is worth the money, he's the best quality striker I've seen at Sunderland for a few years. He's explosive and can win the game in an instant for you... it's exciting to see someone of his calibre playing for us. He's scored a fair few goals this season, but I think that he's obviously more suited to a team not fighting relegation. The major point for me would be could we get someone as good as him for the same price? I think the jury is still well and truly out on whether the two of them can play together. Giddup Sausage: Neither of them have been anything but average. Jones doesnt look interested at all and that 20mil spurs offered looks oh so tempting now. First season with us he was a danger but this season just strolls around the pitch like he doesnt care. Cisse can score goals and should have had more, but he needs the right balls to utilise his pace and the rest of our team seem incapable of giving them. Still think he may be a canny signing, if we can get him playing to his potential (and who else will come up here???). Leadbelly: Jones and Cisse seem to be unable to play together; there is next to know understanding between them and they rarely support one another. Jones is apparently carrying an injury and so has been unable to regularly win the ball in the air after being a terror for defenders in previous seasons. Cisse often looks like he can't be arsed. He certainly can't be arsed to learn the offside rule. He is obviously very fast and shows sparks of brilliance but is unable to maintain consistency. If we don't make Cisse's move permanent I wouldn't be too upset. The Exhile: Jones is nowhere near the new Drogba, his touch isn't good enough. Massive potential though. However if someone wants to fund our team rebuilding by offering silly money we'd have to consider it. Cissé's a class act and is probably worth the money. He can turn a game in a moment and we don't have many more of those type of player. 5-Would you take relegation if Newcastle went down too? Bone Idle Wild Mackem: No chance. Sunderland's more important than them lot, and if us staying up meant they'd stay up then so be it. Giddup Sausage: No way. If we go down we are fucked big time. We need to keep the nucleus of the squad that Keano managed to bring in and build on it. Would enjoy the mags going down but not if it ruined our team also. Leadbelly: No. The Exhile: No chance 6-What do you think about Evertons season? Bone Idle Wild Mackem: Everton look pretty good after a slow start. I'm still not convinced by Fellaini to be honest, he can look excellent or utterly shit at times. Jo has beem ok for you too but I have the same opinion on him. Your defence has been the foundation your season has been built on, any team that can stop the other team scoring as well as you do are in with a chance, especially when your midfield is made up of players like Pienaar (really under rated), Arteta and Cahill. I like Everton and if it wasn't for Fulham's revival then Moyes would be a shoe in for manager of the season. Giddup Sausage: Fantastic season for them considering all the injuries and threadbare squad. Seem to have a team who work for each other, unlike our lot atm. Leadbelly: Everton have had a cracking season despite not having a forward line for most of it. The team spirit and work ethic is admirable and Moyes is really showing the poteniutal he had long been credited with. The Exhile: Moyes has done a fantastic job (again). Slowly but surely they're getting up there, in fact you'd probably be challenging Arsenal for fourth place if you had your strikers fit all season. Good kids coming through and astute signings. Everton are the example of what we should be looking to achieve. 7- Predictions for the game? Bone Idle Wild Mackem: I'm hoping that you have one eye on the cup final and Jagielka's injury means a few of your lads shirk tackles, but I doubt very much that Moyes would allow that. To be honest it depends which Sunderland turns up, so it's almost impossible to predict. I'm going to go for a probably totally wrong 2-1 to us, for no reason other than I'm desperate that we win. Giddup Sausage: 2-0 Sunderland. But in reality it will be 1 or 2-0 to Everton. Leadbelly: After the West Brom game I hope our lot are up for a battle. I see no reason why we can't get a draw and if we play to our potential then a win is possible. However, we will probably turn in another shit performance and be deservedly beaten. The Exhile: SAFC: 0 EFC: 2 8- Any recommendations for a good pre-match pub? Bone Idle Wild Mackem: Nah Giddup Sausage: Fuck knass Leadbelly: I always like the Cliff but it's a mile or two from the ground Edited April 30, 2009 by jamiemaher85 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Cheers jamie, good job again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy the blue Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 That lot have had a really shit season and it shows, it is a pity as I really admire Nial Quinn, great lad and a smashing player. Nice one again Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 I did one for them, i use the forum quite a bit since i went on there last year for a prematch interview. http://www.safc-fans.co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.