Tyrone Shoelaces

When other teams know you’re going to be trying to play the ball in inappropriate areas of the pitch they’ll press you more than ever. Mixing the game up by bypassing them with longer balls will make the think twice. It’s obvious that the best place to win the ball back is as near your opponents goal as possible.

There’s a time to play keep ball and there’s a time to play a longer game. Knowing when and where to play both types of passing games is the secret. You need to be able to mix it up. Playing one way all the time makes you predictable to play against.

So were West Ham’s.

By the time that round neck long sleeve shirt came out Dougie was predominantly playing in central midfield wearing No 10. Mike Ferguson had taken over the right wing No 7 shirt. Ferguson 7 McEvoy 8 Pickering 9 Douglas 10 Harrison 11. Ask anyone who saw that forward line in the flesh - the best attack we ever had. A goal scoring machine. By the way the first game we wore that shirt for was the Everton home game on the 17th of November 1962. I was there, the game ended in a blizzard so the players were probably grateful for the round neck and long sleeves. Dougie was wearing the No 10 in that game.

I’m undecided at the moment. There are lots of things going on with the team I don’t like. I can’t see us going down now so he’ll obviously get the rest of the season. Big improvements are needed before May for me to regain the enthusiasm I had when he was appointed. The manner of the two derby defeats was unacceptable as far as I’m concerned.

Name one or two were we might make money on. BBD, Kaminski, Dack before he got hurt. Dolan - maybe in the future ? Plus he got good money for Armstrong. That’s it as far as I can see. He gave Raya away on the other hand. Nobodies going to be beating a path to our door for Ayala, Hedges or Pickering. On the other hand I haven’t time to name all the flops he’s signed. Maybe later tonight when I’ve got an hour or two to spare. When we needed him to sign a player or two to get us into the play-offs last season he signed 5 players that contributed 0. Most of the guys on here would get at least 1 out of 5 right.

Lots of clubs are watching him. We’re well down the food chain unfortunately.

A quicker Bradley Dack. How did we manage to pick both of them up so cheaply. It just shows there are undiscovered gems out there.

Argentina had the best keeper in the shoot out. It came down to that in the end.

He was just what we lack. Somebody to knit it all together in the last third.

When you’ve got Messi you can afford to have 9 grafters in the team.

Shearer just mentioning the ref - I thought he was great. He let a lot go but he kept 22 players on the pitch in what was a fiery game.

Fantastic game. It’s a shame somebody has to lose.

A process of elimination Herbie. It wasn’t Keith Newton and it wasn’t the blond Billy Wilson. So really it had to be Walter Joyce. Plus the fact the guy is the same build as Walter with the same haircut. If you want to perfect “ Calloway “ shirt that red number 3 is what you want.

I think that’s Walter Joyce.

Yep, Souey sorted Jansen’s decision making out.

My son did eventually put the match on the telly - “ Best performance I’ve seen this season, shame it was two games too late “. His M-O-M = Dolan.

If you go on the Sunderland site quite a few of them have already got him sussed. The latest foible to emerge is for him to be singling out certain players for apparently unwarranted criticism. They already detest his press conferences.

Dolan looked great in that game against Ajax reserves. He should have been picked on the strength of that alone. He provides some much needed energy to the team. He’s one of the few that can turn a bad long ball into a good pass. There are no lost causes for him. He’s essential if we’re going to play the high pressing game we were supposed to be playing.

He started out at “ Fieldhouse “ just around the corner from where I live. That was when “ John Brights “ was a huge cotton empire and the ground was in the shadow of their massive mills. Lots of their employees played for “ Fieldhouse “, I think Tommy was one of them before he signed for Lancashire. They also had a very good works football team with their own ground. There are houses on both grounds now although “ Fieldhouse “ moved to a new ground on the other side of town and still have a team. In fact there are houses on most of the works pitches I played on as a young player. I can only think of one that is still in existence and even that has changed hands. Regarding his grip he had a lot of trouble with his fingers later in his career.

A good wrist spinner should be getting more turn than a good finger spinner. That’s why a really good leg spinner is worth their weight in gold. I got a few tips back in the day from Tommy Greenhough the old Lancashire and England leg spinner. He lived close to me in the 1960’s.

Decision making at speed under pressure is what separates the top players from the also rans.

Me too. A very nice guy who you would be proud to have as a son or son-in-law but he’s just not a winner. I won’t live long enough to see us win another trophy unfortunately.

Lenihan never learnt not to follow the ball when he moved into the back four. What might be good for a midfield player isn’t so good for a centre half.

Face to face result says so.