[marty davidson]

GARY NEVILLE has branded Sunderland ‘appalling’ in a savage attack on the struggling Black Cats.

The Manchester United captain blasted caretaker Ricky Sbragia and his team for the way they set about trying to get a point at Old Trafford.

In the wake of boss Roy Keane’s departure from The Stadium of Light, Sunderland tried for a hard-earned draw with a defensive set-up against the champions, who took until injury time to grab a goal.

Neville accused the Black Cats of failing to play football.

He said: “I thought Sunderland’s attitude to the game was appalling.

“It is difficult for teams to come to Old Trafford and you don’t expect them to roll over.

“You do expect them to come out and play football and they got what they deserved, I felt.

“And we got what we deserved, which was to win the game and keep our momentum going. It was a very important three points.”

Sunderland boss Sbragia, a former coach at United, made no apologies.

After five defeats in six they came with a plan to keep United out and grab a point.

It was only in injury time that Nemanja Vidic made the breakthrough for United.

Sbragia said: “I thought we did well and made it difficult for them. Whether we were going to score was another thing. But we had a gameplan because previously we have been conceding a lot of goals.”

United boss Alex Ferguson refused to criticise Sbragia’s side, saying: “A point would have been great for them.”

Neville, 33, was an unused sub on Saturday but is set to start tonight’s final Champions League Group E match against Aalborg, with United already through to the knockout stages.

He said: “I’ve not been able to stay fit enough or produce consistently good performances to stay in the team.”

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article2020835.ece

 

[martinutd]

Yes. They played like an italian team that scored. But you can't expect much more from teams when they play United at home ))))

 

[Red Devil]

Sunderland ARE a complete disgrace but not for their negative tactics at Old Trafford. Its up to United to break down teams like this. Many teams come to OT and lay it 10 across the back because they know what will happen if they play 4-4-2! Slaughter comes to mind.

Sunderland ARE a disgrace because they can play so hard against us, but they cannot do it against others. And, as a consequence, caused a manager to walk.

Moving to banter, this is about Sunderland more than us. ( well, maybe later on )

 

[scottsati]

very rarely seen such a one-sided match, tbh if we had scored an early goal we could have had a hat full, but they were never going to let that happen.not sure what to make of it-if they approach every game this way they would desrve to go down etc but this is OT and you have to expect some teams to come here and do that. ultimately it's down to united to break them down.
from a neutral point of view it wasn't good to see and from a united point of view its frustrating as ****

 

[reddwarf]

Yes. They played like an italian team that scored. But you can't expect much more from teams when they play United at home ))))

I agree.

I think Neville is being a bit harsh there. I fully expected Sunderland to get men behind the ball and make it as difficult as possible for us to score. In those situations where it's almost like an attack v defence training session it's up to the attacking team to break down their resistance.

They are in the relegation zone, had just lost their manager and were coming to the home of the English and European champions. They would have loved to come away with a 0-0 draw.

Although having less then 25% possession and failing to have any shots on or off target in the entire game was pretty woeful.

 

[marty davidson]

I don't think that is a fair statement

Sure nearly even team plays defensive against us

 

[sweet fa]

neville is talking crap it's up to utd to put the chances away ,if we had scored in the first 10 minutes it would have been a cricket score.
if utd had defended like sunderland mr neville would say how great we had battled i can't really understand nevilles waky comments , he should do well as a manager with his one-eyed views.

 

[forzaunited]

i think we should just destroy north east of england forever

 

[united forever]

i seriously doubt it that neville would have said that if keano was still in charge. we've played hundreds pf games like that where the other team have 11 man behind the ball all the time. we should know how to break these type of teams down by now

 

[Jazz 16]

How is it appaling? Its all about results and points so you cant rip into Sunderland
for trying to get a point by playing defensive. What were they supposed to do?
Go gung ho and get beat 4-0?
Yes its frustrating for the fans at times, but its down to the team to beat them
on the day.Sunderland need to look after themselves and play for points.
Thats what they did and they nearly succeeded.
This happens at Anfailed and Stamford Bridge as well at times, so its not unusual.

 

[Red Devil]

How is it appaling? Its all about results and points so you cant rip into Sunderland
for trying to get a point by playing defensive. What were they supposed to do?
Go gung ho and get beat 4-0?
Yes its frustrating for the fans at times, but its down to the team to beat them
on the day.Sunderland need to look after themselves and play for points.
Thats what they did and they nearly succeeded.
This happens at Anfailed and Stamford Bridge as well at times, so its not unusual.

Yup! Its called a holding game and we can do it just as well as Sunderland, only problem is, we usually crack

 

[Rooneys_Temper]

Sunderland did what alot of realsitic sides do,they turn up,park the buses and hope for the best....so what.We need these games as it helps to build up the passing and movement of our players and also helps to show whos concentrating at the back when there isnt much to do.

 

[cjl_safcfan]

sorry, but neville can **** off
football isnt always about playing the prettier football. it's often about outwitting the opponent. We are going through a rough patch. being able to hold you guys for 90mins is something that will boost morale.

i say you play your football, we play ours, you then need to do something to counter our way of playing.

 

[Hezzy]

i think we should just destroy north east of england forever

Nar lets not ha.

And I dont agree with Neville there. What else are Sunderland supposed to do against us?

 

[spellbound]

Sunderland tried to do to us what we did to Barcelona away....so what's the problem Mr Neville?

 

[Red Devil]

Like I said in the other thread, headlines sell papers. Neville was paid well enough. I would have said anything for the money he got for this. Players gob off all the time, answer: ignore the pratts.

 

[the boss]

i can see nevilles frustration especially after the way hull came and had a go the other week no ones invincible you sometimes need to rattle the opponents no matter who it is you can catch any one on a bad day but not without trying

 

[thekeanefella]

sunderland did what any team would do if they were in their posistion.
there is nothing wrong with playing like that, sit back and hopefully get away with a point, it makes sense something mr. neville failed to do.

 

[Sownak27]

Looking at Sunderland's situation with their manager gone, it wast really surprising to see them come out and play ultra-defensive against the English and European champions...Cant really blame them that way, they need wahtever points they can get
\
Though it does ruin the spirirt of the game i must say