Firstly, and not an excuse, but the ref was absolutely dire, his worst moment being when we were through on goal calling play back to the half way line for a free kick.
Sunderland had us very well scouted, firstly they gave Max and Onel some pretty rough treatment, rightly recognising that most of our attacking approach goes through those two players. And secondly how they behaved when we played the ball out, most teams will press right up to our defence, rushing Angus into making mistakes, but they didn't press as high, effectively letting us pass that first ball out, but stifling the second. What we ended up with was a huge gap between our back four and our midfield, and I'm really not sure why that wasn't recognised and corrected in game.
I think we maybe expected we would win this too, we maybe didn't give Sunderland enough respect, yes they got thumped last week and had lost 3 on the bounce, but they were playing well before that, and were in and around the play offs.
I think, also, it was just one of those days where too many players just had an average game. Kenny was good in bits, Sara too, but really nobody else stood out much. Idah was awful, Josh slightly better when he came on.
Hopefully we can find our mojo for Wednesday, sounds like Max and Onel are doubts.
