LATE LETHARGY’S A REAL CONCERN
MANCHESTER CITY’S STARS GIVEN A TOUGH TIME WITH THE HIGH PRESS, BUT SUNDERLAND’S INABILITY T
encouragement. The quality on the ball, or the lack of it, was an issue, but at least the fundamental energy and desire was there. The grave concern, with just 11 games to go, was that again Sunderland did not come close to sustaining it for the full 90 minutes. If the first half was uncomfortable for City, and Guardiola admitted that they were lucky to take the lead, then the last quarter of the game was an exhibition as they moved their way around Sunderland with ease.
The snap had gone from the hosts, space was opening up all over as Sane, Sterling and Silva poured forward at will.
Sunderland have now failed to score in five of their last six games and this was another occasion when once they fell behind, they never truly threatened to get back into it.
Another major frustration, too, is that it takes the arrival of the league’s finest for Sunderland to press effectively and with such purpose.
Should Sunderland replicate what they managed here in the first half when Burnley visit in a fortnight’s time they will have a good chance of a much-needed result.
Too often, however, positive elements from pressurefree games like this one have not been built on in the following weeks.
The Black Cats have reached the point where one or two more false steps against the teams in the bottom and the gap to safety will approach double figures.
Even the Premier League’s great escapologists would struggle to turn that around, such is the lack of pace and creativity in the squad. The margins were fine. Jermain Defoe was inches from getting his side the lead that they probably deserved, thesecondweekinarowwhen luck has cruelly conspired against his remakable ability to create something out of next to nothing.
There was an element, too, of simple quality winning out.
Sunderland did well to mostly shackle Leroy Sane, David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero, but, in the end, all found that crucial inch of space and time they needed to make a defining contribution.
Sane, in particular, eats up the turf with such grace and ease that stopping him for 90 minutes at times looked impossible. It is another day of ifs and buts, and time is running out.
Positives there may have been, but the way Sunderland faded so comprehensively towards the end of the game had the alarm bells ringing again. It’s that lethargy that makes an April revival seem more unlikely than ever.