Contrasting fan chants, ex-Cats target & constant threat he posed
Sunderland have endured a chastening few days after they were beaten 3-0 at Sheffield Wednesday – a defeat which left several unanswered questions.
LeeJohnson’ssidehavenow lost three consecutive league games, conceding nine goals, with worrying patterns starting to emerge.
First-halfgoalsfromWolves loaneeTheoCorbeanuandFlorian Kamberi put Wednesday in control at Hillsborough, before Lee Gregory added a third after the interval.
Here are some of the moments you may have missed:
Ex-Sunderland target stars:JustlikeagainstRotherham and Charlton in their last twodefeats,Sunderlandfailed to deal with crosses into the box and the presence of two physical strikers.
Kamberi and Gregory were a handful all evening for the Black Cats’ defence, with the pair repeatedly winning aerial duels and pressing from the front.WednesdaysignedKamberi on loan from Swiss side St Gallen in the summer, and some may remember he was once on Sunderland’s radar.
The Black Cats attempted to sign the forward in the summer of 2019, when Jack Ross was still in charge, but he instead signed permanently for SPL side Hibernian.
Since moving to Wednesday, Kamberi had scored just once in seven league appearances for The Owls before the meeting with Sunderland.
On this evidence there is
lots more to come from the 26-year-old, with Wednesday bossDarrenMooredescribing him as a ‘constant threat.’
Whetheritwasacaseofhim stepping up, or the Black Cats’ waning defence, will become clear in the weeks to come.
Contrasting fan chants: Two weeks ago Sunderland had thrashed a struggling Crewe side 4-0 to go second in the table, with two games in
handonPlymouthabovethem.
How things can change quickly.
The Black Cats have been backed by huge away followings at Rotherham and Wednesday,witharound7,000 supporters attending the two games combined.
Yet what they have been serveduphasbeenembarrassing–concedingeightgoalsand scoring just once.
That early-season optimism evaporated in the away end at Hillsborough, with a sectionoftheSunderlandsupporters chanting about how bad their side were. And that’s putting it mildly.
There were still shouts of ‘Sunderland 'Til I Die’ even when the team fell 3-0 behind and showed little signs of mounting a comeback.
Nathan Broadhead’s reception: Before the game started, it was encouraging to see Broadhead and Alex Pritchard return to the Sunderland bench.
Broadhead has been sidelined with a hamstring issue since producing two standout performancesinthecupgame at Wigan and against Cheltenham.He’savailabilitycouldgive Johnson’s side a much-needed boost, due to the striker’s abilitytoruninbehindandstretch opposition defences.
The away supporters recognised his return, with many applauding when Broadhead came on for Aiden O’Brien. Pritchard also missed out at Rotherham,butcameonwhen his side were 3-0 down here.
The playmaker at least brought a bit of urgency to the team even if it was too little too late.