Fulham 1-0 Sunderland – Groundhog Day

After the lacklustre display at Wigan I expected Bruce to have motivated the players into producing something remotely exciting against Fulham. Unfortunately they offered…nothing.

The defending was ’school-boy’ stuff and our midfield looked hung-over. Too many players were missing and for all of our possession in the second half we failed to muster an opportunity worthy of a goal. We got what we deserved in this game, nothing. Zamora ran us ragged up front and Duff looked dangerous every time he wandered into the final third.

We were extremely lucky to go in at the break only one-nil down (a goal which was scored by Zamora in the early minutes of the game).

The second half was a little better but we really couldn’t get any worse. We tried to get forward but found it difficult to put any solid moves together and when we did seem to create some space for our attacking players the interplay was casual and predictable. It was like watching a slow-motion replay. In slow motion.

It’s a game we have to quickly put behind us though. We have two tough games coming up against Pompey and Villa. The defensive errors we have been making in recent weeks must be addressed and we need to begin to show some consistency, consistency in our performances and most importantly, a run of positive results. Our form has taken a dramatic turn for the worst, after our wins against Liverpool and Arsenal I think most expected us to add to our points tally against what we consider the ‘lesser’ sides in the league. Sadly that has not been the case.

We have to pick ourselves up and get our season back on track against Pompey on Saturday. It’s a ‘winnable’ game. Let’s get into them, Haway the lads!