Roker Report
Sunderland AFC's foremost blog and Podcast!
Total reads
4,751
This week
5
Rank
#31 of 449
Published
2,039 posts
Last 12 weeks
Most read posts
Featured on Sportsblogs
Run this blog? Add the badge to your site to show readers you're featured — it links back to this page.
Latest Entries
Sunderland’s Transfer Window Countdown: In Ghisolfi We Trust
Mark Ryan says… I’m quite confident as we close in on the end of the window. Florent Ghisolfi and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus have something up their sleeve — I can sense it. The changes to the squad were always going to be at the edges, not the core, and the priority was always improving the quality […]
A Tough Opening Day, But Sunderland Stalwart Luke O’Nien Is No Liability
I’m annoyed. Not solely at Saturday’s loss to Ipswich and the somewhat slapdash manner of the defeat (although that certainly raised my blood pressure and left me with a sense of “For God’s sake, what a missed opportunity that was”) but instead, it was a combination of mistakes made at the heart of the Sunderland […]
On This Day (26th Aug 1972): Lathan’s Brace Earns Sunderland Point at Brighton
It was Boss Alan Brown’s birthday, and his team presented him with a very good 45 minutes at the Goldstone Ground, as well as a fine brace from young forward John Lathan. Sunderland had finished the previous season in fifth position in the second tier, showing in the second half of that campaign that there […]
Haway The Podcast |Q&A | Ipswich Debrief | Transfers | Hume Role | And More!
There’s always plenty to talk about after a defeat and with the transfer window about to SLAM SHUT™ there’s even more than usual. Martin, Andrew and Ant field your questions including: All this and more! Get subscribed to Haway The Podcast so you never miss another episode of our free daily show. Ready to have […]
Reader’s Corner: What Did Sunderland Learn From Their Defeat to Ipswich?
Fancy writing something for the Roker Report website? Get your thoughts down and send them to us in an email – [email protected] – and we’ll publish them as part of Reader’s Corner! Losing is never a good feeling. I know that all too well. So, rather than simply venting after today’s defeat, I want to […]
View From The Away End: A Typical Sunderland Start To The Season At Ipswich
On a bright and pleasant Saturday morning, it felt good to have competitive football back on the agenda. It’s been a typical off-season since the World Cup ended, characterised by the usual paroxysms online over the lack of signings, debates over the relevance of pre-season friendlies and, recently, a bizarre edition of Top Trumps over […]
Sunderland’s Transfer Window Countdown: A Busy Final Few Days In Prospect?
Ben McKevitt says… A ‘knife edge’ might be pushing it, but it’s goes without saying that the final week of the transfer window is massively important for the rest of the season and beyond. When everyone is fit, our starting eleven is strong but depth is still a clear issue and was exposed on Saturday, […]
On This Day (25th Aug 2018): Sunderland Fight Back To Beat AFC Wimbledon
On this day in 2018, Sunderland secured a hard-fought away victory at AFC Wimbledon. Following relegation to the third tier for only the second time in their history, this was game week five of the League One season. Sunderland had started the campaign brightly, and this victory ensured we maintained our unbeaten start to the […]
Jules Ahoka: Who Is Sunderland’s £10m Midfield Prospect?
Reports came flying in on Friday linking Sunderland to the reported £10 million signing of twenty-year-old DR Congo youth international Jules Ahoka from Royal Antwerp – they were even blessed with a “Here We Go” by everyone’s favourite transfer spoiler, Fabrizio Romano. So who is he, what would he offer Sunderland and why are we […]
Haway The Podcast | JULES AHOKA | Sunderland’s €10m Signing – How Good Is He?
Sunderland are set to sign DR Congo U20 international midfielder Jules Ahoka from Royal Antwerp for €10m – but is he any good? We don’t know, so our good friend Elijah Michiels – a Belgian football scout – joins us to give us the lowdown on a man we know so little about! All this […]
Why Sunderland Fans Shouldn’t Panic After Ipswich Defeat
Now that the dust is starting to settle on Saturday’s opening-day defeat to Ipswich down at Portman Road, let’s take a look at what went wrong and why there’s no need to panic. We’ve not lost many games under Régis Le Bris, so the feeling after a defeat isn’t something we’re used to. This is […]
Why Sunderland Is the Perfect Premier League Club for Americans
While the two series share much DNA, two major differences separate Sunderland ‘Til I Die and Welcome to Wrexham. The most obvious is that Wrexham’s story is just as much, if not more, the story of two very famous actors doing the fish-out-of-water thing in both Wales and soccer ownership as it is the soccer […]
Editorial: Disappointing Start – But No Time To Wallow
We haven’t had to use the phrase ‘Typical Sunderland’ for a while now, but Saturday’s self-inflicted defeat at Portman Road falls firmly into that category, unfortunately. Of course, none of us like getting beat, and it’s ultra-frustrating when we gift-wrap the opposition two goals with two awful mistakes – the second of which allowed us […]
Thomas Meunier Stands Tall Despite A Sunderland Misfire
Amid a sense of immense disappointment, it felt as if there were two inevitabilities about Sunderland’s frustrating opening-day defeat to Ipswich Town. The first was that any and all errors committed by Luke O’Nien would be met with the usual vitriol on social media, and the second was that if a winning goal was going […]
On This Day (24th Aug 1991): Sunderland Mauled At Millwall & Murray Fights New League
It was difficult to gauge where Sunderland actually stood in the summer of 1991. Denis Smith had worked wonders to drag the club from the Third Division up to the top tier of English football in three years, but in so many ways, his progress was too quick for the club to keep up. The […]
Haway The Podcast | SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT | With James Copley
Welcome to today’s episode of Haway The Podcast, and it’s not the way we wanted to start the season, is it? Still, we’ve got to show up, and pick the bones out of that result – what went wrong, and what glimmers of hope are there to cling onto? We’ve got our good friend James […]
Matchday Musings: Sunderland Suffer Opening-Day Defeat To Premier League Newcomers
“Get your first defeat out of the way early”, that’s what I say, and similarly to last season, Sunderland have lost their first away game to a newly-promoted side, with former winger Jack Clarke scoring a late winner for Ipswich Town in typical Sunderland fashion. How did the game play out? Well, let’s relive it, […]
Talking Points: Defensive Errors And Set Piece Magic For Sunderland At Ipswich
A extremely mixed display from the Lads This is a very weird one to judge as I think a lot of the fundamentals that we want from the team were there, especially in the first half. We controlled the ball reasonably well, our triangles were quite good and we fashioned some early chances which we […]
Why The FA Cup Still Has The Magic Sunderland Fans Love
Finding myself at a loose end a couple of weekends ago, I decided that a dose of Extra Preliminary Round FA Cup action was needed to fill the gaping hole that a lack of football had left in my calendar. So, on something of a whim, I conceived a last-minute plan with a mate. The […]
On This Day (23 Aug 1967): Martin Sets Sunderland On Their Way Against Fulham
Having flattered to deceive throughout his tenure, and with rumours of widespread player rancour constantly circulating, it came as no surprise that Sunderland manager Ian McColl failed to see out the full 1967/1968 campaign. Indiscipline and tension often seemed to be hanging over the club during his reign, and whilst there was the occasional flash […]
2 Up, 2 Down: Sunderland Sucker-Punched By Ipswich On The Opening Day
Calum Mills says… Marauding Meunier The only positive from the game today for me. He may nearly be thirty five but he still has so much to offer. He was brilliant up and down the pitch and showed great technique throughout — especially for the first-time volley with the outside of his boot. Defensive disasterclass […]
Haway The Podcast | REACTION | Ipswich 2-1 Sunderland | Poor Defending Costs Us
Sunderland’s season got off to a gutting start as Jack Clarke (yep, him…) scored in the 90th minute to kick us right in the nads and send the Lads fans home unhappy. Join Gav, Jonny, James and Brett as they chat at full time about the performance! All this and more! Get subscribed to Haway […]
Andy’s Player Ratings: Ipswich 2-1 Sunderland – Defensive Errors See Home Side Take Spoils
Robin Roefs: 6/10 Didn’t have much to do other than to pick the ball out of the back of the net, wasn’t particularly accurate with his long kicking today but typically calm with the short stuff. Thomas Meunier: 7/10 Actually had a decent debut, kept Maeda quiet and showed good reading of the game to […]
Haway The Podcast | MATCHDAY PREVIEW | SAFC v Ipswich | Here We Gan!
IT’S TIME! Premier League football is back and, for Sunderland, that means a trip today to take on newly-promoted Ipswich Town, who will still be riding high after promotion and a busy summer. Join Gav, James and Andrew as they look ahead to all the action! All this and more! Get subscribed to Haway The […]
Once More Unto The Breach: Sunderland Are Back
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. Despite never actually wanting last season to finish, I must admit the enforced breather from football was actually quite lovely in the end. Yes, we had the World Cup, but that was all just quite nice and enjoyable. I wouldn’t claim to speak for all, but […]
Displaying items 176-200 of 2039 in total