Stats and signings – those moments you have missed
Some were there and many will have seen the highlights as Sunderland suffered their first defeat of the season at Burton Albion – but there were a few moments the cameras may have missed.
Brewers winger Jonny Smith scored the only goal of the game in the 67th minute with an excellent strike, yet Lee Johnson’s side created enough chances to win the match.
Sunderland’s large away crowdweresentintoraptures when Tom Flanagan thought he’dheadedhomealateequaliser, only for the linesman’s flag to rule it out for offside.
From tactical alterations to changes in the dugout, here are some of the moments you mighthavemissedatthePirelli Stadium…
The stats tell the story First of all, what an advert for League One football.
Thatwon’tmaketheresult any easier to digest for some Sunderland supporters, yet there was still a large degree of positivity from the Black Cats camp after the full-time whistle.
The visiting players were applauded off by the packed away end at the Pirelli Stadium, while Johnson started his assessment of the match with: “I thought we were really good.”
That’s certainly backed up by the raw statistics, which show Sunderland registered 20 efforts at goal compared to Burton’s 12, and finished with 61 per cent possession.
Johnson’s men were often slick on the ball, keen to play on the front foot, yet only seven of those 20 efforts were on target.
As Johnson pointed out after the match, some of the decision-making in the final third proved costly and poor.
At times there was a lack of patience as the likes of Elliot Embleton and Alex Pritchard triedtheirluckfromdistance, while Aiden McGeady missed the best chance of the match when he went through oneon-one with goalkeeper Ben Garratt.
On the flip side, Burton’s goal came when Smith took on a speculative effort which wascurledintothetopcorner, yet in comparison the hosts appeared a little hasty to try their luck.
When the game was goalless, it was an end-to-end contest,with most of Sunderland’ s best chances coming on the counter-attack when Burton threw men forward for long throw-ins or corners.
But for all their neat build up playand goal scoring opportunities, the Black Cats needed more of a cutting edge.
Johnson’s full-back dilemma
For the second match running, Johnson felt he had to withdraw new signing Dennis Cir kin for the final 20 minutes.
The new arrival from Tottenham Hotspur looked lively in the first-half as he made some overlapping runs outside McGeady on the left, against the experienced, but less-mobile Burton full-back John Brayford.
Yet Cirkin’s influence waned after the defender received a soft yellow card for a foul on Joe Powell eight minutes before half-time.
That left the full-back a little exposed as Smith grew into the game on Burton’s left - though there was little anyone could have done to stop the winger’s winning goal.
Cirkin is also still getting up to full speed due to a lack of matches, and, with no senior left-backs on the bench, Lynden Gooch was forced to move to full-back for the third match running.
That wasn’t a big issue on this occasion, as Sunderland were chasing the game and Gooch provided a more offensive option.
Still, it remains an area of weakness for the Black Cats.
A first glimpse of the new signings
For the first time, we saw new Sunderland signing s Nathan Broad head ,23, and Fred erik Alv es ,21, in the Black Cats’ squad, after joining on loan from Everton and West Ham United respectively.
Both players started on the bench at the Pirelli Stadium and appear to have settled in quickly.
The pair could be seen chatting with their new teammates on the pitch before the match, shortly after their Sunderland squad numbers were announced.
Broad head, who came on in the 71st minute and had a few bright moments, will wear the number nine shirt, while Alv es will take the number five jersey.
Of course they are only numbers, yet the lower figures suggest they are expected to be regular starters for the Wearsiders this season.
Youngsters step up to the senior side
Despite not being named in the matchday squad, some of Sunderland’s younger players still made the trip to Staffordshire.
Josh Hawkes, 22, and Ellis Taylor, 18, were both regulars for the under -23 side last seasonbut have played first-team football this summer.
The pair started last week’ s Carabao Cup tie at Port Vale and have continued training with the senior squad.
While Sunderland’ s under -23 side were beaten by Fulham at the Stadium of Light on Monday evening, Hawkes and Taylor instead travelled with the first team to Burton a day later and could be seen exchanging passes on the pitch before kick-off.
With games set to come thick and fast this season, clearly the duo are in John son’ s plans this season.
Jamie McAllister returns
After completing a six match touch line ban imposed on him in May, Sunderland assistant McAllister returned to the dugout at Burton.
Johnson’s lieutenant was handed the ban and a fine following an incident in the tunnel against Oxford United at the Stadium of Light last season.
In McAllister’s absence, SunderlandUnder-23coaches Elliott Dickman and Michael Proctor became part of the Black Cats’ coaching team on match days. Yet McAllister returned to the ben chat Burton, taking parts of the pre-match warm-up working with the side’s back four of Carl Winchester, Flanagan, Callum Doyle and Cirkin.