{"id":3647,"date":"2014-08-30T18:38:52","date_gmt":"2014-08-30T17:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chrischambers-som.com\/blog\/?p=3647"},"modified":"2014-08-31T18:03:41","modified_gmt":"2014-08-31T17:03:41","slug":"queens-park-rangers-v-sunderland-afc-barclays-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrischambers-som.com\/blog\/queens-park-rangers-v-sunderland-afc-barclays-premier-league\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens Park Rangers v Sunderland AFC – Barclays Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Match date: Saturday 30 August 2014<\/span><\/h1>\n

Final score: QPR 1 – 0 Sunderland<\/span><\/h1>\n

Reflection…<\/p>\n

Frustratingly the lads slumped to their first defeat of the season in a game which was ultimately determined by a single Charlie Austin goal just on the stroke of half-time.<\/p>\n

Disappointing to say the least.<\/p>\n

Never mind, eh?<\/p>\n

The day began with me feeling positive about this particular fixture. QPR have had a rough start to the season, while Sunderland have looked very handy during their three games (two league, one cup) – albeit that we have yet to win this season in the league.<\/p>\n

Sunderland took to the Loftus Road turf and lined up as follows:<\/p>\n

Starting eleven-<\/p>\n

\u2022 Mannone (gk)<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Vergini<\/strong>
\n\u2022 van Aanholt<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Brown<\/strong>
\n\u2022 O’Shea (c)<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Cattermole<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Larsson<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Rodwell<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Johnson<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Wickham<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Fletcher<\/strong><\/p>\n

Subs:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Pantilimon (gk)<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Jones<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Bridcutt<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Gomez<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Altidore<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Giaccherini<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Buckley<\/strong><\/p>\n

The game kicked-off at a pace and we played plenty of pretty stuff throughout to be fair, with the first 30 minutes or so providing plenty for the Sunderland faithful to be optimistic about. We also had our fair share of possession throughout however I feel that the timing of the goal really killed us.<\/p>\n

It was looking increasingly like Lee Cattermole would be the recipient of the illustrious ‘Chris Chambers Man Of The Match Award’ – that was until he picked up a silly yellow card, at which point he appeared to be walking a fine line and losing focus. It certainly didn’t help matters when you have Rio Ferdinand et al pleading with the referee to send him off either!<\/p>\n

It was at this point that I felt the game was getting away from us.<\/p>\n

In short, it just seemed that it wasn’t to be Sunderland’s day. This was only further highlighted when a certain Joey Barton, ahem sorry – Joseph Barton, head-button, yes you did read that correctly, head-butted Giaccherini’s legs, only to see the Sunderland man booked for diving!<\/p>\n

You couldn’t write this stuff I tell you!<\/p>\n

Anyway, facts are facts – we lost the game to a single goal.<\/p>\n

Far from being the worst display in the world, Sunderland were just not fully at the races on the day. My main concern is our blatant and desperate lack of striking power up front. I do feel that we have a good passing team with its fair share of creativity in it, but in the final third we are more often than not found wanting.<\/p>\n

Same old story some might say…<\/p>\n

Generally I steer clear of commenting on the performance of the officials, however to be fair, today the referee was shocking.<\/p>\n

We shouldn’t be too despondent about the result really given that it is still very early in the season, and we are still very much a side in transition. What with the transfer window due to close, we can only trust that Poyet and Congerton bring in \u00a0three or four signings, with at least two of said four having a few goals in them. I have said it before and I will say it again that Fletcher and Wickham should not be playing in the same side. Personally I would play Wickham through the middle and leave Fletcher on the bench.<\/p>\n

But that’s just me!<\/p>\n

So, to Messrs Poyet and Congerton, I just wanted to assure you that Wearside awaits, and Wearside expects…<\/p>\n

It’s over to the both of you.<\/p>\n

My Man Of The Match:<\/strong>\u00a0Wesley Brown – The man was a colossus yet again. Even with his head bandaged following a clash he was still putting his body on the line. Just as a side note, I was further impressed with van Aanholt today also – this lad could very well turn out to be a bargain.<\/p>\n

Next up –<\/strong>\u00a0Tottenham Hotspur at the SOL.<\/p>\n

Keep The Faith. Always Believe.<\/p>\n

Chris<\/p>\n

\"sunderland-afc\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chrischambersadi\/posts\/10204483240501507<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n

Sunderland AFC \u2022 SAFC \u2022 Keep The Faith \u2022 Always Believe<\/span><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Match date: Saturday 30 August 2014 Final score: QPR 1 – 0 Sunderland Reflection… Frustratingly the lads slumped to their first defeat of the season in a game which was ultimately determined by a single Charlie Austin goal just on the stroke of half-time. Disappointing to say the least. Never mind, eh? The day began […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[45],"tags":[65,11,56,57,58,67,49,48,46,50,66,47,61,68,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischambers-som.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3647"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischambers-som.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischambers-som.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischambers-som.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischambers-som.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3647"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischambers-som.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3662,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischambers-som.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3647\/revisions\/3662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischambers-som.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischambers-som.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischambers-som.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}