Sunderland 1 Manchester United 1

Gosh. Things just seem to be getting from bad to worse.

1. So Much For Preseason Hype

Yeah, just when we all got carried away with LVG winning the International Champions Cup in the USA during preseason, we were all brought back down to earth by this 2nd game. Somehow the entire play was sluggish and the magic seemed lost, regardless of who was on the pitch. No one could put in a good shift.

2. Rooney The Non Captain

I'm not a fan of Rooney after how he's held the club to ransom. Twice. So LVG making him captain this season didn't leave a very good taste in the mouth. Last night he really showed why he SHOULD NOT be captain. Unable to lead by example, unable to play properly, unable to play with any fire in him. Very sad. He looked like just any regular Joe putting a normal shift at work and looking forward to go home to his family right at full time. I'm not sure that why we paid him 300,000/week.

3. Defence Is Too Porous

Say what you want but everytime Sunderland broke forward, they looked like they could score. Same with the Swansea game last week. Somehow, this 3-5-2 formation is making the 3 defenders very nervy. It also doesn't help that Smalling and Jones are the most senior of the lot marshalling the defence. Kudos to Tyler Blackett and Michael Keane doing a passable job. At least they can get away with a few greenhorn mistakes.

4. Poor Midfield, Poor Wings

The pair of Fletcher and Cleverly was absolutely horrendous. Without any other midfielders, this pairing is probably the worst passable pairing we could put out and boy did they justify that tag. The wings were no better. Valencia, much as I love him, is just not the same since his leg break. Nice of him to get an assist though. Ashley Young, I just have no idea why he's still with the club. He honestly surprised me in preseason, but from last week, he's reverted back to his old self. Terrible.

5. What Now LVG?

The one silver lining of it all is that I don't blame LVG for this mess. You can see the man has a good football philisophy and discipline. His tactics are usually sound as well. It feels like the players are the ones letting the whole team down in the last two games, starting with captain Rooney. If we don't improve on this, I'm afraid we are in for a very long season. Hopefully we can get one or two more players in before the transfer window closes.

Sigh.

GGMU!!!