Ki Sung-Yeung scores goal & assist for Sunderland / Tavern Roundup

This news was so yesterday ago, but you know I likes to arrive fashionably late: Ki Sung-Yeung just keeps getting better and better for Sunderland, scoring the 2nd of 4 Sunderland goals to defeat Fulham at Craven Cottage – and that’s not even mentioning one of the most sparkling assists of the year to set up Adam Johnson goal to put the game away.  

After Adam Johnson’s brilliant free kick curled in the the top right corner for the 1st goal, Sunderland continued the pressure on the hosts. From the Guardian‘s Paul Doyle:

“From a free-kick on the right Johnson cut the ball back to the unmarked Ki Sung-yeung, whose shot from 10 yards got a slight deflection on its way into the net. “We knew they can pull something like that, we had worked on it,” Meulsenteen said.

Fulham started to come back, halving the difference with a Sidwell goal, Sunderland’s counter attack proved desvestating. Back to the Guardian: “…they secured three points in the 69th minute thanks to the best move of the match. Ki glided through midfield, swapping passes with Jozy Altidore as he went, before sliding a gorgeous pass behind Riether to Johnson, who struck a first-time shot under Stockdale from a tight angle.”  The video is from SBS – I saw this originally at BSK forum.

With his 2nd goal in the Premiership and a game winning goal that knocked out out Chelsea in the League Cup, Ki continues to shine for the Blackcats.  Ki had been a good steady character for Swansea last year, but with the freedom provided under Poyet, he’s been quite the revelation. Ki was expected to contribute positively for Sunderland when the season long loan was cobbled together at the beginning of the season, but quite clearly Ki has exceeded expectations as he’s developing into one of their most vital players during their turbulent 1st half of the season. If Sunderland continues this run of form – they may have the momentum to lift themselves out of zone relegation and out of danger. One definite positive, they are no longer at the bottom (Crystal Palace has that honor now), and are 2 points from safety.

Meanwhile at another club having a turbulent season (thanks largely to irrational ownership), Kim Bo-Kyung and the Bluebirds under new management started brightly, had dominant control of the field, but still lost somehow to the struggling West Ham United. Kimbo had an amazing shot that looked like the first goal of the game. Guardian fatigue? Tough cookies, Guardian, give us the skinny: “…Kim Bo-kyung accelerated through the middle before letting fly from 20 yards. The ball struck the crossbar and bounced down, over the line to the naked eye. Replays showed that the whole of the ball had not crossed the whitewash. One-nil, but only to goalline technology.”  

PHOTO Confirmation from the Goal Decision System that Kim’s first-half effort for Cardiff did not cross the line #GDS pic.twitter.com/rRNPaYaLqH

— Premier League (@premierleague) January 11, 2014

[Note: that white-ish item 2 feet into the goal was actually the keeper’s water bottle]. At the busy Tavern yesterday, I was jumping up and down, convinced that the refs erred and the goal line technology was abysmal in it’s assessment. I saw the ball cross the line – but on further review, Campbell had gone in to foul the keeper after Kim’s initial shot bounced on the line – that was the ball that crossed the goal line. Mere centimeters was the difference in the entirety of Kim’s ball crossing the line.  A few minutes later and a Hammers’ goal took Cardiff off their game momentarily. ESPNFC‘s Mark Morris wrote about that curious event in which a ref played a direct part in that goal: “Cardiff cleared a rare West Ham attack and looked to counter-attack, only for the ball to hit the referee and hand the momentum back to West Ham. The visitors took full advantage, culminating in Carlton Cole scoring from six yards. Cole should never have found the space to score; he was poorly marked by Kevin Theophile-Catherine with the Frenchman making no effort to block the West Ham striker.” 

Morris goes on to add that there was the possibility that the ref could have elected to stop the play judging on the kind of ball-ref interference that happened. Additionally, Cardiff was unlucky not to have a penalty kick awarded them later in the match.

Kim went on to play the entire 90 minutes with a good performance overall despite the loss. What I was able to catch from the match was some solid runs, good crosses to his teammates, tenacious on the ball. Alas, they couldn’t find the back of the net; it was tightly congested in front of goal. With West Ham parking the bus, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Bluebird version 2.0 wasn’t able to find any creative ways to get around that despite their 63% possession of the ball. With the loss, the Bluebirds find themselves in the relegation zone for the first time, their 18 points just a point above Sunderland and Crystal Palace. West Ham leapfrogs over to occupy 17th place in the table with Fulham stuck at 19th thanks to Sunderland.

Lee Chung-Yong and Bolton faced Nottingham Forest, who just came away with a win against West Ham in the FA Cup. Seemed like a decent shift put in by the Blue Dragon. Here’s what twitter had to say:

Pandemonium in the box as both Davies and Lee scramble for Beckford’s pass, but the latter puts it into the side netting! (28) 0-0 #BOLvFOR

— Bolton Wanderers FC (@OfficialBWFC) January 11, 2014

Lee attempts to fire home, but his shot takes a deflection and is easily collected by Darlow. (45) 0-0 #BOLvFOR

— Bolton Wanderers FC (@OfficialBWFC) January 11, 2014

Wanderers back in the ascendancy almost straight away, with Lee’s run deserving more. (49) 0-1 #BOLvFOR

— Bolton Wanderers FC (@OfficialBWFC) January 11, 2014

Bolton went behind 1-0 but came back with a Mill’s header to equalize. Bolton had the momentum until the end to find the winner but just couldn’t find that elusive goal. Here’s a short match highlight from Bolton’s PR media wing:

We may have some more for you later – but you know the routine – stop back at Tavern for drinks and possible updates, and enjoy your Sunday!