What were the positives and negatives from Sunderland's late loss to Stoke City?

12/30/2024 01:00 AM

A late Tom Cannon goal condemned the Lads to a frustrating defeat in the Potteries on Sunday. What did our writers make of the game?

Calum Mills says…

Adil Aouchiche impresses

Aouchiche could've downed tools and sat out until he got his move, but his substitute appearances and start against Stoke show he's professional and could well be fighting to stay.

Milan Aleksić stakes a claim

A tough place to start for Aleksić, but he played well.

A few loose touches and passes early on, but he used his pace well to break and time his tackles to win possession. He also made a great run through on goal and had a shot from a tight angle.

A winnable game thrown away

We dominated for forty five minutes and came out for the second half completely disinterested.

We did the same against Coventry and squandered a two-goal lead, but we didn't have the luxury of a lead to squander at Stoke, and ultimately threw away a point in a game where three were laid up on a plate to take!

That's ten points dropped within the last ten minutes of games this season, with eight of those points from the ninetieth minute onwards.

Poor game management

We've performed admirably for around fifty to sixty minutes of every game we've played this season, bar Sheffield Wednesday and Oxford.

Football is played over two forty-five minute halves, so why do we switch off for 33% of the game?

Jon Guy says…

Dan Neil stands tall

The one shining light is Neil's form.

He was the fulcrum of everything we did well; composed, mature, and (sorry to say) a class above a lot of his teammates.

More superb away support

Class support once again.

The fans were brilliant despite what they witnessed on the pitch.

An opportunity missed

This was a game we should've won.

Stoke were awful; one of the poorest teams we've faced this season, and we came away with nothing.

We had long periods of the game where we simply couldn't put two passes together, and it was so far away from the types of performances we were delivering at the start of the season, that you wonder if this was the same squad.

The striker issue rears its head

If anything comes out of this debacle, it has to be that we need to bring in a striker who can score on a regular basis.

Eliezer Mayenda missed a real chance late on at Blackburn and had his free header five yards out gone in at Stoke, it was likely to be the deciding factor- as poor as we were.

Lars Knutsen says…

An improved first half performance

Sunderland have gone behind in the last few games and that was down to slow starts.

While we didn't completely control the game, we did have a strong territorial advantage, despite our makeshift attack, as Milan Aleksić and Adil Aouchiche made their first starts of the season, with Eliezer Mayenda included and Patrick Roberts rested.

There were clear chances among the nine shots we had on target in the first half.

Part of the territorial advantage was down to an effective press, which helped to keep the ball in the attacking half.

Dealing with a long ball team

We struggled with some of the long ball tactics adopted by Blackburn Rovers a few days ago.

Maybe that, along with absence of Dan Ballard, is why Stoke's interim manager Ryan Shawcross adopted those tactics, like the Stoke of old under Tony Pulis.

Ironically, the performance did yield a result for Stoke, who actually looked more dangerous when they used their wings, and Tom Cannon's goal came from a Sunderland error in the middle.

Until the last few minutes, I felt we dealt with the long balls well.

Too timid in attack

Stoke weren't terrible defensively but Sunderland easily had enough of the ball and the chances to finish them off.

We did hit the post a couple of times, and Viktor Johansson made some important saves, but too often headers missed the target and our shooting lacked conviction.

This, along with the home side's late goal, combined to bring only our second defeat since late September, which was against the run of play, rather like the reverse at Bramall Lane.

If we do manage to gain promotion this season, the attack will need serious strengthening.

Jobe doesn't dominate as he usually does

Perhaps we've relied too much on him so far this season, but Jobe looked jaded to me and didn't deliver his best performance in midfield.

This led to some frustration and he was booked for a needless foul after seventy minutes.

We need to remember that he's still only nineteen and can't be expected to pull up trees every few days.

Malc Dugdale says…

Poor from front to back

That was one of the worst performances for some time, especially in terms of basic errors and not taking the chances we created, and we couldn't say we deserved much more than a draw.

We played down to the level of the hosts and should've used our superior football to get the win. To convert chances so poorly against a team in Stoke's position is a reality check, for sure.

No team, Sunderland included, has the right to win any game and we were too error-riddled, especially up front and at the back.

We can't even blame a low block, as they had a go and we failed to punish them even on the break. We need a marked improvement for the coming few games or we could have a very challenging second half of the season.

We must prevent this from becoming a downturn. It needs to be shown as a blip, and ASAP.

Mayenda's misses

You have to feel for the young lad but to miss such gilt-edged chances was pretty damning.

Yesterday's header was as easy a chance as the one-on-one with the goalkeeper against Blackburn, but he failed to really test the keeper with either. His confidence must be shot to bits, which won't help him or us.

For me, Aaron Connolly needs to get a short run and we need to see what can be done about improving the final touches of Eliezer Mayenda whilst ensuring the lad knows we want him to succeed.

Some real challenges for Régis Le Bris and the team to come.

A good time to lose?

With both Watford and Blackburn also losing, all we've really done is lost a bit of ground on those above us, and as Sheffield United only drew, we only lost a point to them.

We didn't want to do that, but if you lose when others around you draw or lose too, it could be a lot worse.

We'll need to do better in coming games to close a gap of five points to the autos, but there are loads of games left to focus on that.

Decent showings for Aouchiche and Aleksić

They were thrown into the deep end and did OK at times.

Had a few balls fallen our way or the odd shot been struck better, they may well have helped change that game. I was especially impressed with the pace of Aleksić early on, and the fact that he was willing to back himself with it, too.

I'm as disappointed for them that we played so poorly as a team and got no result, as there were a number of positives they can both take, as well as some lessons the whole team must heed.

Tom Albrighton says…

A blessing in disguise?

For all yesterday was frustrating, it's safe to say after this week's performances that going up would be a poisoned chalice for this team.

On our day, we're as good as anyone in this division, but the problem is that we have 'our day' far less often than our rivals.

Aouchiche catches the eye

After seemingly being completely frozen out, he was our best player. He worked tirelessly and created some good chances too.

Hopefully he can be given more opportunities going forward as he looks like he has the ability to be of use to this side.

A defensive dilemma?

Ever since he was dropped a few games back, the question was 'How does Régis Le Bris fit Luke O'Nien in?', and I think after recent performances, the answer is 'he doesn't'.

Whilst Dan Ballard isn't faultless, since O'Nien has had his place in the team under threat, his performances have been well below the standard required.

A poor performance again yesterday, and his mistake led to Stoke's goal- although he isn't solely to blame for our defeat.

Another late goal conceded

Too many times this season, we've conceded late goals and we seem to have no ideas as to how to prevent it.

On this showing, we fell foul of an individual error, but it's happening time and time again.

Whether it's tiredness or simply naivety, it's an issue Le Bris needs to get to the bottom of.