SUBLIME in Europe, shambolic in the Premier League. This has been two seasons rolled into one for Sunderland so far, but if the Black Cats do not address their increasingly-alarming domestic form quickly, their continental exploits will count for nothing.
Their latest defeat on home soil saw them lose 2-0 to a Bournemouth side that have also been struggling to balance the twin demands of the Europa League and Premier League, and left them in 19th position. If Tottenham claim at least a point at home to Coventry City tomorrow, Sunderland will be bottom of the table by the time they head to Poland to face Lech Poznan on Thursday.
Their loss at the Vitality Stadium was completely self-inflicted, with Kevin Danso and Omar Alderete seemingly involved in a personal battle to see who could be the ineptest centre-half.
Danso must have thought he had won that particular battle when he was at fault for Bournemouth’s sixth-minute opener, which was scored by Marcus Tavernier, before picking up a straight red card for hauling down Evanilson 11 minutes later.
Having contributed to Danso’s dismissal by allowing a routine long ball to sail over his head, however, Alderete handed Evanilson a second-half goal on a plate as he rolled an awful back-pass towards his own goal. In conclusion, Sunderland’s two central defenders were every bit as bad as each other.
Collectively, Sunderland’s all-round display was wretched, with Robin Roefs the only visiting player to emerge with any credit as he single-handedly prevented an extremely bad day from becoming even worse.
Roefs made four excellent saves to prevent Bournemouth from running up a cricket score, but Regis Le Bris still has plenty to ponder as he attempts to juggle his dwindling resources on multiple fronts. Winning in Poznan on Thursday would strengthen Sunderland’s hopes of finishing in the top eight of the Europa League’s league phase, but they desperately need a positive result when Leeds United visit the Stadium of Light on Sunday. Lose that, and the alarm bells really will be ringing loud and clear.
They could do with Brian Brobbey back in the team, with the Dutchman’s unexpected absence from the matchday squad meaning Timur Tutierov continued to lead the line after making his first Sunderland start in Thursday’s European win over Torreense.
That put the Black Cats onto the back foot for the off in terms of their attacking, but it was at the other end of the field where things rapidly unravelled once the action began. Last season, Sunderland’s defensive resolve was the bedrock of their success. This term, they have been anything but solid at the back, with Danso’s disastrous opening 17 minutes summing up their plight.
The summer signing from Spurs has had a reasonably successful start to his Black Cats career, but this was a horror show of catastrophic proportions.
Six minutes in, and Danso lost Evanilson before tumbling to the floor as the Brazilian broke past him. Evanilson crossed from the right, and an unmarked Tavernier was able to send a powerful diving header past Roefs.
That was bad enough, but worse was to come as Danso erred again 11 minutes later. Alderete made the first mistake, allowing a routine long ball to sail over his head when he could easily have dealt with it. Danso, who was left to clear up the danger, miscontrolled, and when Evanilson nicked the ball off him, the centre-half hauled the striker to the floor. It was a clear red card, leaving Sunderland having to play for more than 70 minutes with just ten men.
With Danso off the field, Nordi Mukiele moved across to centre-half with Trai Hume dropping back into the back four – if nothing else, at least the grumblings about the right-back playing in midfield were silenced – and Sunderland’s remodelled back four spent the rest of the first half trying to prevent Bournemouth from doubling their lead.
Adam Smith should have done exactly that when Roefs parried Rayan’s shot into his path, only for the full-back to direct a wasteful first-time effort wide of the target, and Roefs made another good save to prevent Rayan from heading home from a corner shortly before the break.
When Roefs parried another of Rayan’s long-range efforts, he was effectively mounting a one-man resistance drive, but even he was completely powerless to prevent Bournemouth scoring their second goal three minutes into the second half.
Alderete’s afternoon was proving every bit as calamitous as Danso’s, and as he ambled along the touchline, the centre-half simply didn’t look as he rolled a back-pass towards his own goal. An alert Evanilson was gifted possession, and after dancing around Roefs, the Brazilian rolled the ball into an empty net.
