One thing we all learned from Sunderland’s dismal display against Norwich City was they lack strength in depth. Fair play to Regis Le Bris and his squad for confirming a play-off place and, let’s face it, every Black Cats’ fan would have been more than happy with this outcome at the start of the Championship campaign.
Under a new head coach, the team have thrived and as much as the exuberance of youth has helped galvanise them, the experience shown by the likes of Chris Mepham and Luke O’Nien cannot be underestimated.
Both were immense at Carrow Road. But I did take issue with Mepham when asked about Norwich’s attacking threat he stated, “I can’t recall any clear cut chances from them’.
I was looking for his nose to grow longer at that point but maybe when you’re ‘in the moment’ you block out the reality and cite your clean sheet as some kind of proof that the opposition didn’t come close to scoring.
Norwich’s Anis Ben Slimane hit the outside of a post with a free header in the opening phase. And Mepham appeared to brush over his captain Dan Neil trying a ridiculous dribble on the edge of his own penalty area. Nunez robbed him of the ball, passed to Borya Sainz, and his free hit was weak and allowed Anthony Patterson to save.
I also didn’t like Patterson punching a routine cross in the opening 20 minutes when he could have gathered. He immediately handed back possession to Norwich who were able to win a corner they would never have had if Patterson had claimed a relatively easy catch.
That first half was painful to watch from a Sunderland perspective. It was like a training game with attack [Norwich] versus defence [Sunderland]. At one point, after 20 minutes, Norwich had enjoyed 78 per cent of the possession and Sunderland had one touch in the opposition box.
For those interested in tactics, Sunderland’s formation seemed to be a 5-5-0. There were mistakes in possession, no urgency and no interest to get forward.
Leo Hjelde contributed two meaningful moments. One was getting team-mate Luke O’Nien booked when his loose header straight to Josh Sargent was followed by O’Nien hauling him down outside the penalty area. The second, in the 56th minute, when he miscontrolled an O’Nien pass with his first touch and was booked himself for a foul on Macelino Nunez with his second. In between he shanked a cross from the left that sailed into the stand.
Inauspicious would sum up Hjelde’s display while Milan Aleksic was hardly involved other than to miscue a cross into the same area of the crowd from the other side.
Anybody from Brighton looking on might have wondered what all the fuss was about in signing Tommy Watson for £10m. Apart from a couple of low crosses when he was about to be substituted he contributed little. He was also booked for a silly lunge when he got nowhere near the ball.
To be fair to all three, despite Le Bris saying ‘they are all connected to the team’, are not matchfit and allowances can be made for that.
The one thing everyone can agree on is the brilliance of Enzo Le Fee. His introduction with 22 minutes to play along with Patrick Roberts and Wilson Isidor was impactful. He really is a class above the rest. He sees things others don’t and can thread a pass with either foot. At West Brom, despite having not played for weeks, his first touch and immediate incisive pass to free Isidor was poetry in motion.
Again, on Tuesday night, he showed deftness of touch and has a football brain hardly matched by others in red and white. It’s timely that he has emerged as the play-offs approach. Sunderland are going to need his artistry as was so obviously demonstrated in the 70 minutes or so before he emerged from the bench.
Then there’s the issue of just what will happen if Sunderland do make it to the Premier League given the increasing gulf in class between the top two divisions.
We’ll save that for another day.
Sunderland in the Championship play-offs, and fans can watch the big games with Sky Sports' discounted TV bundle.
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