What were the positives and negatives from Sunderland's victory over Norwich?

Today at 01:00 AM

Second half goals from Dan Ballard and Jobe secured a vital three points for the Lads against the Canaries, but what did our writers make of the game?

Andrew Smithson says…

A strong Sunderland mentality

The timing of the two goals was brilliant, coming straight after half time with a Dan Ballard header and straight after Norwich City had been reduced to ten men with another great finish.

In the past, Sunderland have let games like this fizzle out but are now showing a growing sense of assuredness and understanding of things, and are learning how to react to situations such as being behind or being expected to make the most of a numerical advantage.

The talent has been there for a couple of seasons, but the organisation and planning needed to harness it is just as vital, and it's starting to become apparent.

This wasn't the best display in pure footballing terms, but the points keep coming and both the players and coaching staff deserve a big pat on the back for the shift to a more clinical approach.

Some superb individual displays

Although not at their best, there were plenty of individual performances and moments you could select as a positive.

Anthony Patterson produced a brilliant save onto the post in the second half; Chris Mepham had a rather enjoyable bit of dialogue with a Norwich player amid the celebrations of Jobe's winner, and in an end-to-end affair, there were loads of rousing tackles and smart attempts to make things happen.

You can't help but like this set of players.

They're honest and they play for the shirt as much as for themselves. They're light years ahead of some of the dross we've had to endure previously, and with their recent return to form, they've hopefully set everyone that celebrates Christmas up for a cracking few days ahead!

A short corner catches us out

A goal conceded from a short corner has been coming for at least a month now, and it needs to be addressed before it happens again.

A few teams have tried them of late and gone close, yet the response hasn't improved from Sunderland's end.

On Saturday, the Lads showed they're a real threat from attacking set pieces, but remain a touch vulnerable when facing them, and for all the good defensive work in general terms, the goals that do go in are often avoidable.

Sunderland weather some physical storms

There were periods when things seemed a little too open and when a couple of extra touches on the ball could've calmed matters down.

I suppose that's typical of the Championship and of a team that was instructed to press high again (rightly so, given the opposition) but when things got rough, there's always a chance of being caught out.

That said, things would've been a lot more controlled had Norwich not worked themselves. They didn't mind giving it out but they went down at the drop of the hat, leading to several confrontations and increasing the chances of someone switching off when play resumed.

A few feisty challenges came in on the back of it, but Sunderland's players always back each other when the pushing and shoving starts, and they don't get intimidated by the physical side of the game.

Calum Mills says…

The unbeaten home run continues!

After a conceding a poor goal from a training ground routine, we turned it around for the fourth game in a row.

Sunderland's midfield maestros

For me, Dan Neil was man of the match.

He's finally settled into the number six role and is a proving to be a vital cog in the wheel of the push for promotion.

Jobe was brilliant as well. He made some great last-ditch challenges after he'd given the ball away, but that's the type of fight and tenacity we need in the middle of the park.

Some sloppy defending from a corner

Horror show defending saw us concede a cheap goal.

Why Chris Mepham was focused on clearing rubbish from the goal line was beyond me, and going a goal down was easily avoidable.

The mystery of Sunderland's substitutions

I'm bringing it up again because it needs to be discussed: why is Régis Le Bris reluctant to make changes sooner?

We had our entire defence on yellows and yet we only swapped Trai Hume for Luke O'Nien? Norwich went down to ten men and we quickly scored but following one of the worst refereeing displays in Championship history, Le Bris didn't look to bring off any of the players who'd been cautioned?

We were walking a tightrope and had we gone down to ten men, Norwich may have found the equaliser as our overall performance was poor.

Eliezer Mayenda isn't a left winger, as Adil Aouchiche came on and did more in thirteen minutes than Mayenda did out wide all game. Play Mayenda through the middle, as Wilson Isidor is looking leggy.

Finally, Borja Sainz. I hope you drop your TV remote and can only find one of the batteries, you insufferable little prima donna!

If you want to dive like that, the Olympics are less than four years away.

John Wilson says…

Sunderland's unshakeable belief

Despite the fact that once again we didn't exactly come flying out of the blocks, when we went one behind, there was an atmosphere inside the ground and among the players that it was no big deal and we'd get it back.

Wins breed confidence, and whilst I wish we wouldn't go behind in games, we have the never-say-die attitude to keep going and not panic.

Successfully switching our wingers

We actually did it! Halfway through the first half, we actually switched wingers.

Eliezer Mayenda went across to the right and Patrick Roberts came over to the left. It freshened things up, it confused Norwich, and both wingers had some very good spells, especially in the second half.

I'm not sure why it's taken so long to do, but a welcome surprise.

Some shaky distribution from Anthony Patterson

I don't think the wind can be blamed for the number of times he kicked it straight to a player in yellow.

He'll be tackled for a tap-in one of these days, and I hope he learns his lesson before that happens.

He has so many qualities and he kept us in the game, but his kicking needs attention.

The officials…once again!

Maybe we should just accept the officials will be poor, inconsistent and weak, then we can talk about other things.

Even though he sent one of their players off, it was a no-brainer and he couldn't have done anything else. Sometimes a shoulder charge is a foul, sometimes it's not. I think I saw even Régis Le Bris get involved with something on the sidelines, which shows how close he came to losing control of the game.

Who cares- we won! A great game, and my stepson said that 'he's had his Christmas present now', so we'll have a happy drive back to Worcestershire.

Happy Christmas!

Malc Dugdale says…

We ground another one out!

We weren't great in the first half but despite going behind, we found a way to win.

It's a shame we conceded such a shabby goal but the Lads clearly took a blasting at half time and could've won that by a few more.

It's the three points that count most and we got them so I'm over the moon, especially as I made a four hundred-mile round trip for it.

Dan Ballard strikes again

When your strikers are firing on three cylinders, you need others to chip in and that's two crucial goals in two games for big Dan.

I hope he keeps this up as if we can get the strikers firing again and keep getting goals from elsewhere, we'll be in a great place later in the season.

Reffing rubbish

The referee was atrocious and failed to control any part of that game.

Yes, we benefitted, but that red card could've gone either way because the man in black was so out of his depth.

We deserved to win the game for me, so no major harm done, but yet again the inconsistency of officials is as key a topic as the game or the result, and this needs to stop.

Finishing failures

Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda both missed great chances and we need at least one of them to start firing.

We created plenty of opportunities, especially in the second half, but we simply must do better with them. That could easily have been a draw and may have been if not for Ballard getting a vital goal.

Please get some new shooting boots for Christmas, lad. There's a long way to go yet!