Let's not turn Anthony Patterson into an early-season villain... he'll be back!

09/17/2024 01:00 AM

"With Simon Moore and Blondy Nna Noukeu having arrived at the club this summer, there's genuine competition and it's vital that he doesn't let his standards slip," writes Phil West.

OK, it was a poor mistake to make, and it did prove costly as Sunderland were unable to eke out a point against Plymouth on Saturday.

The game at Home Park appeared to be drifting towards a draw when, in the dying embers, Argyle defender Kornel Szücs took a potshot from range.

It was reasonably well-struck but it should've been dealt with by Anthony Patterson, who instead, somehow parried it straight back into the danger area, with Plymouth skipper Joe Edwards on hand to bury the rebound and secure the win for Wayne Rooney's side.

Naturally, the brickbats were out for Patterson before the players had even jogged back to the centre circle to restart the game, among them the oft-repeated claims that he's 'a liability', 'an average Championship keeper' and that 'if someone offered us £X, I'd sell him'.

Expected? Yes. Justified? Not entirely, but it's fair to say that as much as Patterson was guilty of a poor piece of goalkeeping at that particularly moment, you could be equally critical of Dan Ballard's clumsy challenge that allowed Argyle to get back on terms — a challenge that, had it been made by Luke O'Nien, would've seen the club captain castigated remorselessly.

Let's face it, Patterson hardly keeps goal in the fashion of Kelvin Davis channelling the spirit of Sunderland-era Jason Steele, while wearing the boots and gloves of Lee Camp.

He's been our first choice since being handed a chance by Alex Neil during the 2022 promotion run and his trajectory since then, albeit with one or two hiccups and dips in form, has generally been upwards and when on form, he's one of the best operators in the division.

Indeed, on Saturday, had the ball not cannoned in off the unfortunate Ballard, the fingertip parry that Patterson produced to tip Morgan Whittaker's volley onto the bar would've gone down as one of the saves of the season so far, but on such fine margins do games often swing.

The bottom line is that we should've put ourselves into a position to take something from the game on Saturday without the need for any last-minute twists.

By 2024/2025 standards, few of Sunderland's players emerged from the game with any real credit, but collectivism is very much part of the way we work nowadays. It's what's helped us to get off to such a promising start, and it's way, way too early to start pointing fingers and scapegoating certain players- in my opinion at least.

That said, there's an argument that Patterson's undoubted ability as a shot stopper (something at which he often excels, as we often saw last season, most notably against Leicester at home and away) can be undercut by the weaknesses in his game.

With that in mind, and following the arrivals of Simon Moore and Blondy Nna Noukeu this summer, there's genuine competition to be Sunderland's leading goalkeeper and it's vital that he doesn't let his standards slip.

With Régis Le Bris wasting no time in identifying the key strengths of his frontline players, every member of this squad has clearly been put on notice, and a certain standard of performance is clearly expected from week to week. That's a good thing and it should hopefully spur everyone on.

You may recall that when Tony Mowbray was our head coach, he once made a quip about wanting to use, shall we say, more primitive means to keep Pierre Ekwah focused on the task at hand (a very 'Mogga' comment if ever there was one). It's true that Patterson is prone to lapses in concentration during games, and that his distribution can sometimes be somewhat scattergun.

Can he improve? Of course. Will he? Why not?

We all know that being a goalkeeper is a lonely, high-stakes and often thankless task.

You might find yourself diving left, right and centre to keep opponents at bay or you might participate in a game as a virtual spectator with very little to do. Patterson's not been tested very often this season so far, but remaining switched on and alert to any sign of danger can often make the difference between a loss, a draw, or a victory.

He slipped up when Szücs' shot came his way late on during Saturday's game, and the team paid a heavy price as a result, but would anybody be surprised if he responded strongly against Middlesbrough this weekend?

On home turf, in front of a big crowd, Patterson ought to be able to channel that energy into his performance and to ensure that he's fully focused on the task at hand from the first whistle to the last.

That's the beauty of the art of goalkeeping: criticism can be turned on its head with a commanding performance next time out, and let's hope he does exactly that against Michael Carrick's visitors.