2 Up, 2 Down: Sunderland Stunned By Five-Goal Forest

Oh, Nordi

I don’t know what happened at half time, but it looked like he was gesturing and arguing with fans in the East Stand. Whatever ignited his annoyance, it didn’t look good and was quite a depressing sight. That being said, I don’t understand us booing this team. How does that help?

Jon Guy says…

A gritty second half display

We could’ve collapsed in the second half but they put a shift in and showed some pride in the shirt after an abysmal first half.

Sunderland fail to adapt

We simply didn’t learn our lessons as Forest stuck to a simple plan and we didn’t adapt. It wasn’t a miraculous system and we could’ve adapted as a team without a strategy masterclass. It’s as naive as I’ve seen us all season.

No cutting edge

We simply dont look like scoring regularly. We looked different when Wilson Isidor came on but it’s actually an issue for next year.

The defence is found wanting

When the team was announced, I thought the back four looked solid. However, we looked so disjointed and the goals were the results of mistakes we simply weren’t making a few weeks ago.

Malc Dugdale says…

The bigger picture: a positive season!

I didn’t dream we would be pushing for the fringes of Europe after over thirty games of our first season back up, but we are. This is a blip in that undeniably positive situation. Not good enough, but still a blip.

Expectations surpassed and then some

I imagined even less that we would take six points from the Mags this season, but we did. We’ve won games we had no real right to, drawn when it seemed impossible, and now we’ve lost one that we expected to do ok in. That’s football. We’ve had it way harder than this, and we need to remember that.

A dreadful night all around

We lacked everything last night: organisation, application, ideas, shape, concentration and luck. I was worried that Forest needed this more than us but to lose in that way with it all over before half time was a massive gut punch. Not good enough, and a major reaction is needed during the remaining games to stop a potential downturn in morale, despite the great season we’ve had in general terms.

Moving forward, unity is key

Last night was the first time I’ve seen disunity in the squad and an air of friction with the fans. The team has taken the adoration when much deserved, so they need to take it on the chin and show accountability when they don’t perform well enough — and Régis Le Bris too. Granit Xhaka and Le Bris need to regather this group and remind them that this has been a great season, apologise to the fans for getting this badly wrong, and show with their response that this means as much to them as it does to us all. One swallow does not a summer make; one bad loss doesn’t wipe out all the progress we’ve made, but how they react will be a telling sign of the summer we’ll see unfold.

Tom Albrighton says…

More defensive woes

Nine goals conceded in two games is unacceptable at this level. It really is and I don’t think there’s much more to say, especially after shelling for goals at the weekend. Trai Hume has been a consistent weak link at the back in recent months.

Playing out from the back bites us

I get it. I really do, but what I don’t get is doing it when it’s clear after five minutes the opposition has sussed out your only exit pattern and butchered it with a four-man press. At 0-1, we could’ve managed the game; after the second goal, heads were on Mars (or the beach, if you were in a Sunderland shirt).

Habib Diarra, what do we do with you?

At the weekend, I was a staunch defender. However, after another abject performance including such hits as not tracking back, not trapping a bag of cement and tackling your own player — as well as the smash hit of getting booked for the second time this season for waving an imaginary yellow card, I really think it’s best that he sits out for a couple of weeks.

Sunderland’s selection riddles

Whether you’re ‘Le Bris in’, ‘Le Bris out’ or ‘Le Bris, shake it all about’, you do have to wonder why certain things are happening. Lutsharel Geertruida can’t buy a minute of football. Chemsdine Talbi is the same and whilst Diarra stinks the place out more often than not, Enzo Le Fée is forced to play wide whilst the man who can play wide watches from the sidelines, and that’s before we get to why Eliezer Mayenda is cast to the shadows. A few things fail to make sense and perhaps have done for some time. When the system works, it really does work, but it’s seemingly limited to working against teams that want to have more of the ball and as soon as we come up against the opposite, it all goes to sea. Being flummoxed by a standard 4-4-2 just raises that question further. I’m not actually bothered about that result and it shows why not getting Europe might be a blessing in disguise for a squad that needs improvement in the summer with survival being the main aim again. Call it unambitious, but avoiding ‘second season syndrome’ generally sees you stick around for a while longer, but I’ve enjoyed this season so I’m quite glad it all means nothing.