Heroes and villains - Match review
Well I’m happy to see my preview title kind of perfectly summed up the game. To a man the 10 men of Sunderland took themselves to their very limits to get a draw out of the game following Renieldos unnecessary red card and you could say they were unlucky to not take all 3 points.
While the first 20/25 minutes of the game were certainly balanced and maybe slightly favoured Sunderland in terms of chances and creativity, you cannot give even a poor Aston Villa side a sniff at goal. They didn’t finish 6th last season by accident. Sunderland contained Villa well and were able to break and create against them. A slight slip in concentration from the back line allowed Villa a golden opportunity to break their goal duck but a strong, brave Robin Roefs denied the villains and a combination of Roefs and the offside flag denied Watkins an easy follow up.
After Matty Cash left one in on Renieldo, he reacted very poorly for a 31 year old experienced pro. However, the premier league can be unforgiving and he needs to learn. He will be a big miss the next 3 games. The knock on effect of the red card was that Chris Riggs’ promising Premier League debut came to an abrupt end after he was brought off for Ballard to add an extra body defensively. However, he looked very comfortable at this level and I’m looking forward to see him going again if Diarra will be out for a few weeks.
Sunderland survived until half time and resumed battle in the second half with confidence and togetherness, lead by Granit Xhaka, the lads gave everything, Unai Emery’s men could not get out of their own half at times. Alderete nearly scored an incredible header getting on the end of Mukiele’s improvised cross. Goalkeeper Martinez had given up on it only to see the ball hit the bar to his relief and Alderetes agony.
Matty Cash broke the deadlock with a wicked strike which Roefs maybe could have done better with but the swerve and power just had too much on it. It would have been very easy for the heads to go down, the floodgates open and the story then becomes “Villa beat 10 man Sunderland” and it’s a game lost in the history of the EPL. However, our lads didn’t give up and less then 10 minutes later, Talbi has a shot which is blocked by the forehead of a defender, which sends the ball in the air, underneath it is an unchallenged Xhaka who could have tied his laces, had a cup of tea, checked his calendar for the rest of the week and no Aston Villa defender still wouldn’t have closed him down. Xhaka plays a gentle header over the Villa back line for Wilson Isidor to pounce and scored his 3rd goal of the season and his 3rd goal at home in a row.
Despite the introductions of Harvey Elliot and Jadon Sancho, Villa could not break the lads down and the last chance of the game is one which Watkins, who looks a shadow of his former self, should have buried and dug his team out a hole they put themselves into. Dan Neil was introduced just before added time for his Premier League debut and after the Watkins chance, he managed to get his team a freekick in his own box, which essentially ended the game. A touch of class from the local lad. Very easy to panic in those situations.
This game showed the tactical ability and depth within Regis Le Bris and his coaching team. It would have been very easy to pull off Isidor and try to shut up shop for 60 mins. However, Ballard was introduced for Rigg and while he occasionally sat in the back line, Dan, at times sat in front of the other centre backs and allowed Xhaka to push forward and support attacks. While the lads were outnumbered, allowing Sadiki and Xhaka to step up meant that our attacks had more thrust behind them. The introduction of Mayenda was also important towards the end of the game, Wilson had run his race and Mayenda bought his team time, holding off men much bigger then him, dancing round them and carrying the ball forward. This bought precious time for the lads to reset and get their positions back. Sadiki is a robot and can run forever.
Xhaka spoke when he signed about suffering. They suffered but somehow managed to make Villa suffer as well. Having players who are confident enough to carry the ball forward makes a huge difference. Too often we see teams try to play their way out of trouble. By carrying the ball forward and not just launching it out or trying to play out, you are making your opponents win the ball back. This often means, your opponents are out of position and can disrupt attacking plans. There were so many times Talbi, Sadiki or Le fee carried the ball forward, Villa won it back, but attacks quickly dissipated because players weren’t where they should be.
A 10/10 team performance and an incredible effort all round. Possibly a season defining game we will look back on as crucial in our season.
Mukiele is my man of the match, won everything and was everywhere. Incredible effort and what a find he is for £10 million.
On to Forrest next!
HAWAY THE LADS
