Pundits left impressed by early Cats signs

SKY Sports pundits Steve McClaren and Wes Brown were left impressed by Sunderland’s performance yesterday, although warned there is still plenty of room for improvement.

The Black Cats fought back from behind to draw 1-1 with Derby County, as Lewis Grabban’s penalty at the end of the first half was enough to cancel out Bradley Johnson’s opener for the visitors.

After a summer blotched with uncertainty, Simon Grayson’s men battled valiantly, much to the pleasure of the home support, and there were plenty of positives to take from the game.

Former Newcastle, Derby and England manager McClaren labelled their performance as ‘excellent’ but warned that they still need plenty more reinforcements to compete at the top end of the division, after Grayson refused to call on any of his substitutes.

“I thought Sunderland were excellent,” McClaren said after the game.

“I think out of the two managers he (Grayson) will be happier not just with the result but the performance.

“I thought Sunderland were excellent throughout. What can they improve? I think they need a bench, because after 60-65 minutes they were flat out and Derby started to take control and started to create opportunities and looking at their bench there wasn’t really anything they could change and they need to improve that.”

Former Sunderland defender Wes Brown was also in the studio and he singled out the performance of former team-mate Lee Cattermole for particular praise.

Cattermole was named man-of-the-match after completing the game with a 100% tackle success rate and Brown believed the 29-yearold set the tone for Sunderland’s performance.

“They started the game very well – Lee (Cattermole) in particular,” Brown added.

“He was a very good captain today, he put all the passion into it and it rubs off on the players.

“They started well and had a goal against the run of play against them.

“They had a couple of opportunities to score but probably should have let one more in as well from Chris Martin at the end but all in all they played really well.

“The fans were happy and they gave a lot today.”