Talking Points: A Meslier mishap gifts Sunderland a valuable point!

Today at 02:13 AM

A late goalkeeping blunder proved costly for the visitors as the Lads maintained their unbeaten home record. Bomber looks at the game's main talking points

A great game of Championship football

It might've needed a 96th minute gift, but regardless of that it was for the most part a brilliant game of football between two of the best teams in the league.

During the first ten minutes of both halves in particular, we purred, and but for the second goal, for which we got caught on the counter, I think it was the most impressive this iteration of Sunderland has been.

Such is our recent history that we're all far too bashful and reluctant to believe we're one of the most talented teams in the division, but whisper it quietly among friends: with the exception of a few panicked penalty box scrambles, we're a composed, brilliantly coached and organised team.

At times, our midfield three of Dan Neil, Chris Rigg and Jobe (who were playing their third match in seven days) dominated the midfield, although all three were also taught a lesson by Willie Gnonto at some point in the game. On the wing, Patrick Roberts and Romaine Mundle attacked with pace and intent, supported very well by Dennis Cirkin and Trai Hume.

I, like many, was looking at this game to find out if the Burnley match was a one-off or whether we're genuine title contenders, but with the performance if not entirely the result, that question was emphatically answered in my opinion.

The Chris Rigg hype is real, as we saw once again

We've been talking about him for the best part of eighteen months, but every club has players whom fans rave about but nobody else has heard of them or talks about.

In two games live on Sky Sports, we've seen two goals and two impressive performances from Rigg, who's well and truly arrived in the consciousness of both football pundits and writers.

It's no less than he deserves and whilst the last month will have put him on the radars of more scouts and shortlists, performances on Sky add zeroes to his value for when, like proud parents, we inevitably allow him to fly the Sunderland nest.

For me, it's so refreshing to hear pundits and commentators from Sky and talkSport discuss one of our own in such a positive and exciting manner.

Régis Le Bris sticks with what he knows- the right decision?

In some respects, it's a bit of a pointless question because the answer for many will be intrinsically linked to the result.

A win and it's a great decision to keep your best available eleven out there, but lose or draw and the reaction will be 'what could've been if we'd freshened it up a bit?'.

I'm not sure which side of that fence I'm on as I write immediately after the game, but I think whatever the answer, it's impressive for them to have put in that level of performance after three games in a week.

Aside from Alan Browne, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly where those rotations could or should've happened in a way that wouldn't have made us weaker in a match for which we needed our best players on the pitch.

Given our injury issues and many of our new signings not being ready, Derby was probably the game during which to rotate.

Having lost to Watford and really needing to win on Tuesday, that option was probably taken away from Le Bris, and there was no way we weren't fielding our strongest team for Leeds.

For once, a well-timed international break

Well, for us, at least!

Having played on the Friday of the weekend before we're forced to watch England again, we're afforded that little bit of extra time to rest and recuperate before another busy and vitally important couple of weeks.

We'll return to action with visits to Luton, Hull and QPR, plus a home tie against Oxford, and we need a spark to gain a big points haul before Bonfire Night to further solidify ourselves as title challengers.

For now, and although the result was a little fortunate (but thoroughly deserved), the performance should give us enough encouragement to look forward to the rest of October and early November, and to expectation rather than hope of continuing a good run.