NFFC V SAFC review - 3 points and we are mint
The momentum continues
Sunderland pulled off another Premier League win, this time away from home and the first away win of the season. A first half goal, the first from a new signing, another clean sheet. What a time to be a Sunderland fan.
I spoke in the preview about how important it is to pick up an away win early in the season. I was optimistic going into the game, I would have taken a point quite happily, but I felt the way Ange plays would benefit Sunderland to some degree which I think it did. I’ll explain how later in the review. I was also happy to see the shape and formation stay the same with Masauku coming in to replace Renilido and he may well deputise for the next 2 games.
First Half
Sunderland started well, Forest seemed to back off initially and were happy to let the lads have the ball but gradually the home team grew into a game. Wilson Isidor should have maybe done better after a swivel shot went wide. A bit of sloppy play from both sides allowed the ball to fall to Wilson with his back to goal. He spins and gets his shot away but drags it wide. Both sides looked dangerous going forward but Forest never really troubled Roefs in the first half of the game.
The referee did play his part in this game. There were some inconsistent decisions throughout the game and he seemed a bit too happy to dish out yellow cards after booking Sadiki early on. Most refs would have maybe had a quiet word in the first 10 minutes but he seemed like he wanted to stamp his authority on the game. The 38th minute is when his most controversial decision came. After a Sunderland attack the ball is cleared, about half way into Nottinghams half and Xhaka wins a header down in between forest player Dominguez and Trai Hume. The midfielder clears the ball, Hume going for the same ball just misses out and there is a little clash of boots. Dominguez goes down screaming like Hume had taken a sledgehammer to his foot.
If you play that scene out 100 times, in 75 of those occasions a free kick is given to the home team, no one bats an eyelid, in 24 of those occasions, the referee plays on, again, no one says anything. On that 1 in 100 occasion, the referee gives a free kick to Sunderland. The reason seemed to be simulation and replays back this up.
The contact is minimal. It wasn’t your traditional dive, but he was feigning injury. The referee was right.
Xhaka plays a perfect ball into the box, which Sels can’t come for cause it’s too quick, the defenders aren’t quick enough to react but Alderete escapes his marker with ease and heads the ball in. A quick VAR check shows Alderete was in line and onside and Sunderland take a first half lead for the first time this season and just before half time as well. Perfection.
The second half
Again Sunderland started brightly but again, Big Ange’s team come back and now they have Morgan Gibbs-White on the pitch. The lads coped well though but we gradually found ourselves deeper and deeper. Ange chucked attacker after attacker on but they couldn’t break Regis’ low block down. This is where I felt the French head coach had the advantage, his team defends very narrowly is and quite happy to let teams play down the wings. We will try and block the crosses but more often then not, Alderete, Mukiele or Ballard (introduced later on) would get first contact and clear.
Le Bris didn’t just rest of his laurels though as he made a few attacking changes of his own with Traore, Brobbey and Adingra coming on, changing the entire front 3 by the end. This Meant that forest couldn’t over commit because Sunderland could quite easily counter and often did towards the latter stages and maybe should have scored 2 or 3 goals. This again is where Postecoglue weaknesses are exposed because it was quite easy for the lads to counter and it often was just a long ball or a clearance as forest were pressing so high there were huge gaps to exploit for Sunderland.
More heroics from Roefs with some good saves and maybe a bit of luck as Wood missed a golden opportunity to level the game late on. Sunderland looked comfortable in the last 5/10 minutes of the game and Geertruida probably should have scored after temporarily reincarnating as Nedum Onuoha. The lads managed to see off the threat from the opponents and leave the City Ground with 3 points.
Granit Xhaka was officially Player of the Match, his calmness and ability and take the sting out of situations made a huge difference and it’s games like that where I hope Dan Neil watches and learns. Xhaka wasn’t outstanding by winning every tackle, or creating opportunities. He just did the basics right every-time. If the ball needed clearing, he cleared it. If there was a ball in behind to play, he’d play it, he never forced an attack or misjudged situations. Sometimes it was just playing the ball back to Roefs to give everyone a breather, Roefs could wait for Forest to press and launch it up, giving the defence time to reset and recover.
What do the Stats tell us?
Well the Stats point out the strengths of Sunderland and the weaknesses of Forest. For example, in the first half, Forest had 0 zero shots on target, 2 shots blocked and 3 shots off target. This despite having 3 corners and 4 crosses. They weren’t causing our defence any problems really. Yes they created but it didn’t go anywhere. Roefs didn’t make a save in the first half.
Compare that to the stats in the 2nd half, the home team managed 6 shots on target, 4 blocked shots and 7 shots off target. Roefs and the defence were tested a lot but they coped and coped well, there will be games this season where Sunderland will be pinned back, but this game shows that we are quite happy to sit back and defend and let teams play around our box. Forest had 4 corners and 4 crosses in the second half. Again creating a lot but unable to make anything of it.
A fine all round display.
Summary
Picking up 3 points away from home is crucial early on in the season. Our home form will be crucial to surviving but any points picked up away from home are worth their weight in gold. For context, the team in 18th, Burnley, currently have 4 points. Sunderland sit on 11. If you take away our away points, we’d be sitting on 7 points. So our home form needs to be supplemented with away points every now and again.
Sunderland are unbeaten in 4 games and I believe the last time Sunderland managed that in the Premier League was when Sam Allerdyce was in charge and Sunderland finished the season with 6 games unbeaten.
The potential for this team is endless. We were sat in the champions league places for a few hours. Who knows where will end up but let’s just enjoy getting carried away!
