In the midst of Sunderland's resurgence and all the clamour and excitement over our new signings one thing that never sat well with me was Ross Wallace's instant favour on the left over Tobias Hysen.
In all fairness it's not as if Wallace is a bad player; a Scottish Under 21 who has been tipped for big things north of the border, he has impressed me when he has played. It would have been ridiculous to drop him after scoring in his debut - having played well throughout the match itself.
Now I understand that Roy Keane had already seen Tobias play and must have wanted to see how his new signings performed but to drop the lad after his performance against West Brom must have been a bitter pill for Tobias to swallow.
We have now seen the potential impact of two factors which may well be crucial to our season, those being attitude and competition. Having been dropped Tobias maintained a commendable attitude, as anyone who saw his celebrations from the bench when we have scored will tell you.
The Leicester game highlighted the importance of attitude; how a team can feel they can simply walk through a game after a mere three wins and the start that we had is beyond me, but it looked to me like a number of players felt they only had to turn up.
The impact this attitude had was a double edged sword, on the one count it gave the players the confidence to go forwards and take on their man but on the other hand it also added an element of complacency which we cannot afford against any Championship team; certainly not an underperforming but by no means bad Leicester side - and we very nearly paid for it.
Enter Tobias Hysen who, with his desire to do well for the club and re-establish himself in the team, had an instant impact. I cannot remember the last time I saw Sunderland make a substitution like it, not through any fault of the manager but simply because we have not had talent on the bench that could change the game for a long time.
Speaking further on substitutions I felt Yorke had a game which, while by no means outstanding, showed a lot of what he brings to the club. His first touch and flick-ons were without any shadow of a doubt the best I have seen at the Stadium of Light. This includes from the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea. As bold a statement as this first appears we must remember that Dwight Yorke was strutting his stuff with Scholes and Giggs well before the likes of Christiano Ronaldo appeared, a fact which cannot fail to excite any Sunderland fan.
Chris Brown seems to be thriving on, if somewhat surprised by, the quality of the support he is receiving but the stubbornness of the Leicester defence especially after their goal made them a tough not to crack. I'm still not entirely convinced about his finishing but if he scores 30 tap-ins this season I will not be complaining.
Other concerns? I think Alnwick has looked a little bit out of sorts, I'm told Liam Miller was on the pitch at Leicester, but he had very little effect on the game leaving us with only one flank to attack down. Whitehead had a terrible game as well and he could soon find himself replaced by a Grant Leadbitter who seems to get better every time I see him.
In spite of playing below our abilities we still dominated the game, restricted them to one chance and drew. It was the attitude and desire to compete for a first team place that drew the game for us, I am tipping Hysen for big things with our club and will be very surprised if he does not start against Ipswich. The players who underperformed against Leicester could do well to follow his example.
FTM
Regards,
Michael
