Sunderland fans will be greatly disappointed with their team’s performance against Bristol Rovers on Tuesday. Not one player managed to achieve a rating higher than 6.6/10 according to WhoScored.
However, despite the team playing poorly overall, there were many fans who applauded the efforts of Antoine Semenyo. The player received a rating of just 6.5/10 from WhoScored, but the SAFC fans are obviously looking beyond the statistics.
Will you give Semenyo credit for his effort?
Yes - that's all we can ask.
No - still not good enough.
They referenced his work ethic as being worthy of passing marks. To them, he looked like the only player putting in the work. Here are what some of the fans had to say.
None of these players, Semenyo aside, deserve an ounce of credit tonight. They’ve disgraced the badge with their ineptitude, and most likely thrown away promotion as a result of their dismal performance tonight. One of the worst nights for a very long time. #SAFC ???
— Philip West (@Philip_RJ89) March 10, 2020
Semenyo the only player tonight that looked like he wanted to be there. The rest weren’t interested.
— Speak Sunderland (@SpeakSAFC) March 10, 2020
Fair play Bristol Rovers, deserved the W, none of our players showed up, no build up just kept belting it up field wasting possession. Semenyo only player with fight in him, bye Championship football, next season is more League 1 #SAFC
— Aidan_112 (@AidanMuers) March 10, 2020
Barely any #SAFC players can look at themselves after that. Semenyo & Scowen maybe
But in general they let themselves get bullied by Bristol Rovers. While the result is embarrassing, they wanted it much more & deserved it.
Everyone at the club needs to take responsibility.
— Michael Bowers (@MichaelBowers15) March 10, 2020
Think Semenyo looked okay 1st half. Rest of them were shocking. Tbf not fair on Grigg, he was on for 5 mins. Usually a ‘not enough time to rate’ pretty cheap shot at him Imo. Need to seriously look at ourselves cos were not even gunna be in playoffs at this rate
— Andrew Tonge (@tongey93) March 10, 2020
Semenyo was the only player that looked like he was bothered/trying but he stood no chance with most of the hoof balls. Midfield non existent again
— Chris Laing (@ChrisL1984) March 10, 2020
Each player should be embarrassed bar maybe Semenyo
— SweetLukeO’niennnn (@jacobcunliffe10) March 10, 2020
Had 1 decent performance all night and that’s from semenyo. #SAFC
— Kirby (@LiamKirby16) March 10, 2020
What do we think?
While these fans were sympathetic to Semenyo, it could just be a by-product of the rest of the players’ inadequacies. With just eight games left to play in the league, Sunderland fans will be eager to see the rest of the team showcase the same kind of attitude as the English attacker. Despite dropping out of a playoff spot after losing the match, there is just one point between eighth place and third. Everything is still to play for.