Time for change as Black Cats fail first character test of season
SUNDERLAND’S unbeaten start came to an end with last night’s 2-0 defeat to Leeds United.
The crowd was up for only the Black Cats’ second home match of a league and cup campaign already into its fifth game, encouraged by three solid and unbeaten away performances.
Ultimately, though, consistency is the hardest thing to achieve on the Championship treadmill and a side which had shown signs of tiredness in midweek was simply outplayed by Leeds.
Samuel Saiz and Stuart Dallas scored the goals which had the away fans signing about promotion. The Yorkshiremen had handed out some tough lessons to a Sunderland side who are still adapting to each other and to life in the second tier. So what did we learn about their progress?
A change can do you good
Four games in and Simon Grayson has picked the same starting XI four times. On the previous three occasions, there was a logic to it – rewarding a side who had played well in the previous game – but given the leggy way Sunderland had finished at Hillsborough on Wednesday night, there was a definite case for freshening things up a bit.
It seemed clear at half-time the Black Cats needed to make a change but Grayson waited until 10 minutes after the restart before throwing on Wahbi Khazri and Adam Matthews,
Not that he had sat on his hands until that point. His team did at least reemerge with the pack having been shuffled but sadly to no great effect.
The season’s first real character test – and Sunderland failed
Sunderland had been behind this season – once – but at home to Derby County, Bradley Johnson’s strike came against the run of play and after a couple of minutes rocking on their heels, the Black Cats reasserted themselves.
This time, from the minute Saiz put his side in front – the 21st – Leeds looked likely winners. The Black Cats did not cave in as they did too often the previous season but nor were they able to claw their way back.
The Championship is such a crazy league that the next blip is never far away but it is how they respond to the setbacks that sorts the wheat from the chaff. We should learn a lot more about this team if not in Carlisle on Tuesday in the League Cup, then certainly at Barnsley at the weekend.
Brendan Galloway had it tough
Everton loanee Galloway has shown some moments of quality as a Black Cat, not just going forward but back as well. He is certainly far from the finished article, though, which is precisely why a Premier League club sent him out on loan.
Macedonian winger Ezgjan Alioski gave Galloway a torrid first half. It felt like every Leeds attack was coming down their side of the field, and George Honeyman was switched to the left to give greater protection than the more attack-minded Aiden McGeady affords.
It was no surprise where Leeds’ opening goal came from, Alioski turning Galloway and feeding the ball for