I am offended. Where do I lodge a complaint? You'll hear from NTV soon enough. I don't think he looks like Grella at all. But I agree on the rest.
Looked the most active Sunderland player for the first 15 mins or so. Moyes giving him a chance opening day against Man City was bold. They did lose however. The S'land fans were not pleased with the starting XI. Defoe is class, crafty veteran.
The lineup used against Man City away won't be the lineup used on every match day. Personally, I think they did OK. It easily could have been a draw, had it not been for the stupid van Aanholt penalty and the unlucky bounce off McNair's face. Man City had the ball but, at least, during the first half, nary a top chance was created by them.
https://audioboom.com/boos/4939107-lynden-gooch-on-graham-cricket-and-playing-for-sunderland?t=0 After listening to this interview, I guess he's on his way to being the next Brad Friedel
Also interesting with this interview is talking about attention from US and how he mentioned how he's flown under the radar compared to others. Seems to put a chip on his shoulder. He talks about it at about the 5:19 mark.
Interview: http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/66/u...sing-in?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter The U.S. may not be the only national team taking notice of Gooch's Premier League arrival. He is eligible to play for England (his father is English) and Ireland (his mother is Irish), and while he wouldn't completely rule out playing for another country, Gooch hasn't lost the desire to play for the country of his birth. "That's who I've said I want to play for, but at the same time anything can happen," Gooch said. "It'd be an honor to play for any of the three. That's my family, and who I'm a part of, but I'm proud to be from California, and would still want to play for the U.S."
Most sunderland fans were happy with his performance, however, and think he's earned another start against boro. I was surprised by Moyes picking him for an opener v. mac city, but kudos to the lad... he must have been showing in training. Most thought Khazri would get the nod. It's a bit of an issue with neither Khazri or Larsson playing, as no quality deadball strikers are in the mix. Not sure if Gooch is a quality deadball hitter or not, having not seen him enough in reserves. Van Aanholt fancies himself one, but I'm unconvinced and the fact he loves to bomb forward out position and leave us exposed in back at the most inopportune times makes me think he needs to spend more time focusing on defending and less on getting forward. His out-of-position antics were responsible for their penna. That's the debate about him... Does his attacking capabilities outweigh his defensive liabilities and goals he's cedes against the competition? He caused a lot more goals for the competition in the first half the season last year but Allardyce got him sorted defensively. He looked back to his bad habit ways vs. City. He did run up and take a corner from Gooch, which I though was nonsense.
ESPN published a piece entitled "Ten Premier League debutantes rated after opening performances." They included Gooch:
Starts again #SAFC XI v @Boro: Mannone, van Aanholt, Djiliobodji, O’Shea, McNair, Love, Rodwell, Gooch, Watmore, Januzaj, Defoe. pic.twitter.com/Z7JJUnOIKW— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) August 21, 2016
Young Gucci got a yellow... for fouling Adam Clayton. You can't make this stuff up. Mix it up, Gucci! https://soundcloud.com/dopejohnpaulii/gucci-mane-vs-u2-salt-n-pepa
Looked good again to me. Was singled out on the NBC post-match show briefly for his hard work/commitment during the match. Sunderland AFCVerified account @SunderlandAFC 2h2 hours ago 11' Gooch full of endeavour over on the left creating openings as #SAFC look to break down @Boro. Home fans appreciating his efforts
Played well enough to keep playing. Ran out of gas there at the end. Good game from the lad, he can play a valuable role for this side.
He runs constantly until he can't anymore. Looked gassed late in the game today. There were a few times when I thought he should've released a shot with his right foot. He's got a rocket, but hesitated and cut back to his left. Not sure where he started, but he ended the game as Sunderlands deepest midfielder. Decent game but not spectacular from a more defensive role than last week. He'll need to watch the yellows, the one he picked up was off the ball and stupid.
Lets check in on those Sunderland fans... thought Lens and Janujaz were poor tbh. Rodwell was decent though. Gooch the standout.— Horse Latitudes (@LorseHatitudes) August 21, 2016 767373950989037568 is not a valid tweet id Gooch was very good again today. I'm surprised Khazri didn't get a chance as Januzaj's set-pieces were poor. #safc— George Smith (@SunderlandGS) August 21, 2016 Lynden Gooch though 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿— T Lake (@tommylake) August 21, 2016 767373559052247040 is not a valid tweet id https://twitter.com/jonn01avery/status/767372783869460481
Ended up playing as a 6 who would surge forward in possession. Surprisingly good as a Dmid. Excellent ball winner. Mediocre mid range passing and understanding of how to manipulate space but that is the best I have seen him play. Yeah ran out of gas around 70.
I thought he was one of Sunderland's better players. He was wide left in the first half and whipped in a really nice in swinging cross which Januzaj just missed. He also showed some nice bursts of pace and a willingness to take his defender on. I thought his corners left a bit to be desired with him floating them up too high. Later in the second half he was the deepest man in the midfield and while he was secure and calm in possession, his passing range/vision of the field looked to be quite limited. There were a few times where he held on to the ball too long rather than spraying it out wide but he did well to not lose possession. He showed some steel defensively winning the ball back multiple times but he was visibly gassed in the last 15 minutes. I'm impressed -- he's come a long way from the player I remember seeing for the u20s. He's a lot quicker than I thought as well.
Excellent assessment by Mario. One thing I would add (elaborate upon actually) is that Gooch had several strong tackles in the middle of the field that dispossessed the opposing player and broke up promising attacks by Middlesbrough. Makes me think he could be an effective dmid.
I watched most of the second half, and Mario's assessment is spot on. Gooch is very technically strong, and can possess the ball well, though at times he held the ball too long. But then again, so did Dele Alli yesterday, and he starts on England.
I'll be curious to see where he ends up. He's got the short-but-muscular build and tenacity of a CM, but the skills needed to create chances from the wing. I'd be ecstatic if he could develop into our Moussa Dembele (strong, energetic, attack-minded CM).