Leeds United returned to the top of the Championship thanks to their late win over Sunderland
Sunderland fell to an agonising late defeat at Elland Road on Monday night.
Phil Smith was there reporting for The Echo and here are his key conclusions….
SUNDERLAND ARE CLOSING THE GAP – BUT LEEDS UNITED LOOK A CLASS APART THIS SEASON
After falling to a late defeat at Elland Road, Sunderland have now played all their regular season fixtures against the three sides above them in the Championship table. All three were amongst the pre-season favourites for promotion, in no small part because they remain in receipt of parachute payments from the Premier League.
From those games Sunderland taken seven points and will feel they should have had more, they competed well at Bramall Lane and should have won at Turf Moor when Wilson Isidor missed two late penalties. Across the two games, there is no doubt that Leeds United showed their class and they have been quite comfortably the strongest opponent that Sunderland have played this season. While the Black Cats did well to largely protect Anthony Patterson in both halves, the way Leeds controlled possession and prevented Sunderland from creating counterattacking opportunities in the second produced a level of dominance that the Black Cats have very rarely been subjected to this season.
There are clear signs that Sunderland are closing the gap on the teams to the top of the division, further underlined by their excellent performance away at Middlesbrough a few weeks ago. That should give the team and its supporters a lot of confidence if the season does end with a play-off campaign, but the evidence here in Elland Road was that there remains something of a gap to the very best in this division. The first-half performance, in which Sunderland defended resolutely but caused problems with their speed and quality on the break, showed that it is by no means an insurmountable gap in the long run.
SUNDERLAND’S ACHILLES HEEL STRIKES AGAIN
Earlier this season, Le Bris said that it was hard to pin down what was going wrong in the final exchanges of games for Sunderland, as the goals they were conceding with a frustrating regularity were all different in their nature.
The bitter frustration for Sunderland here was that they had so many chances to prevent the winner, a weak header from Salis Abdul Samed allowing the hosts another chance to put the ball in the box after it looked as if the visitors had dealt with the corner. And while the cross back in was excellent, it should really have been claimed before Pascal Struijk nodded in from a couple of yards.
What Le Bris did accept might be a pattern when he spoke about the issue earlier in the season was that the opposition’s generally deeper bench strength was allowing them to make more substitutions earlier in games. Fresher legs were eventually being paying off as the game entered its closing stages, with Le Bris often dependent on a very small core of players to go 90 minutes week in, week out.
Last night’s defeat was a classic case in point. It was an inventive and clever double substitution from Daniel Farke, opting not to bring on more attackers but to switch a central defender and midfielder – reasoning that Sunderland’s excellent defensive shape meant that they had to make more of the set-piece situations they had so regularly spurned through the opening hour. It paid immediate dividends, with Joe Rothwell and Struijk combining for both goals. Farke’s next double substitution, in which he brought on Largie Ramazani and Mateo Joseph, then brought some additional energy in the final third.
In contrast, Le Bris admitted that his subs had been unable to change the flow of the game. While it has been worked well in some previous fixtures, Samed’s introduction as Sunderland’s most advanced midfielder didn’t pay off. Samed struggled to break up the play in the areas the Black Cats wanted too and it means that when they did get the ball back, their best creative players were away from the play. Ian Poveda had a positive impact from the right, and could probably have been introduced earlier.
Sunderland have won some important points from losing positions, it should be said, but there’s no doubt that their lack of bench strength has cost them this season. The good news is that this should in theory change over the coming weeks when Romaine Mundle, Alan Browne and Tommy Watson return to full fitness. Whether Le Bris can maximise those options could be key to Sunderland’s promotion hopes.
SUNDERLAND UNABLE TO MAKE THE MOST OF THEIR KEY ATTACKING PLAYER
After one superb early run down the channel, Enzo Le Fée struggled to get into the game as Sunderland were pushed back towards their own goal. Even for a player of his ability, its simply too much to ask to create when he’s picking up possession close to his own goal and often marked by two or three opposition players.
With Samed not having the desired impact in midfield and Chris Rigg perhaps struggling with fatigue after such a busy first half of the campaign, it still feels as if moving Le Fée infield is a change that can really freshen things up for the Black Cats and give them another dimension. Getting Mundle and Tommy Watson back up to speed simply can’t happen quick enough from a Sunderland perspective.
SUSPENSION FEAR NOW LINGERS FOR SUNDERLAND
While it was slightly bizarre that only Wilson Isidor was booked for an off-the-ball confrontation with Joe Rodon, Sunderland now have a situation they really need to manage carefully.
Isidor and Trai Hume are both on eight yellows with four games to play before the cut-off point, and the lack of depth in those positions means a two-game suspension could have a significant impact. A yellow card for Jobe Bellingham means he is now just one yellow away from a two-game ban – another player that the Black Cats can’t lose if they are to stay in the top-two race.
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