Alex Charlton says…
Sunderland fight back impressively
After the first half, I did worry that the game would peter out into nothingness, but yet again the Lads fought back and the most points picked up from losing positions tells you everything you need to know about this team.
You can never write them off — and it’s this trait that’s kept us pushing for Europe.
Enzo Le Fée runs the show again
There were several players that I could have picked out: Brian Brobbey, Luke O’Nien Chris Rigg, but I think a special word has to go to Le Fée, who may well be our Player of the Season.
He offers
so much with his range of passing and creativity and was great to see him get a goal. Fully deserved.
An early exit for Omar Alderete
It’s hard to find a lot wrong after that result, so I’ve had to go with Alderete’s injury.
O’Nien was outstanding and could easily have taken home the man of the match award, but I think Alderete will be a miss against Chelsea.
A lack of opportunities in the first half
Our first half wasn’t bad by any means, but we created precious little and I feel like I’ve watched that same half over and over again this season.
Not that it’s a major issue, but next season we need to find a way to be more creative in the opening forty five.
John Wilson says…
Sunderland control matters early on
The way we started the game was quite impressive.
We had almost total control of the ball and dictated the pace, whereas Everton seemed very lacklustre. Of course, it’s during these periods where a team needs to press home their advantage, and and this we didn’t do, without a shot on target.
But for their deflected goal, it would have been a much more satisfying half for the Lads, but just like last week against Manchester United, we extended that pressure into the second half, and kept our composure and consistency.
A professional ninety minutes.
The Euro dream is still alive!
A lot of people haven’t wanted to mention the ‘E’ word, but as it stands, I think I’m right in saying that if we can beat Chelsea and Brentford don’t win at Anfield, that dream may come true.
Absolutely amazing. Wow. How far have we come?
Plenty of possession but little cutting edge
Of course we eventually won (and with style) but it can’t hide the fact that sometimes we’re toothless and lack that cutting edge.
That didn’t transpire yesterday but a first half of dominance produced no shots, so the next step must be to become a more threatening outfit.
Omar Alderete’s injury
He may well be fit for next week, but it’s concerning that he keeps picking up niggles. Hopefully he just needs a decent rest.
Otherwise? A superb weekend. Unbelievable.
Jon Guy says…
Another brilliant comeback!
The Lads simply don’t roll over.
Throughout the season, we’ve gone behind but played our way back to draw or more usually win. There’s no denying the spirit of this team and they’ve given us some brilliant afternoons this season.
Super Sunderland subs
From O’Nien who was brilliant to Diarra and Isador the lads off the bench made a real difference today.
You have to credit Le Bris for his substitutions — he clearly felt the game was there to be won and they were positive subs.
An early exit for Omar Alderete
You have to hope it’s not too bad an injury.
With Dan Ballard suspended, Alderete has been the leader at the back and we have to hope he’ll be back for Chelsea.
Few beneficial calls from the officials
We’ve experienced worse officiating but in the first half especially, we certainly didn’t get much from the referee as Everton looked to muscle us out of our rhythm.
Having said that, what a performance from the Lads against a team that had their eyes on Europe.
Lars Knutsen says…
An impressive Sunderland display
This was a dominant performance from the Lads — a phrase designating our team and now used regularly by Régis Le Bris.
Although we dominated possession in the first half and were pretty well at full strength, we didn’t really trouble Jordan Pickford. That all changed in the second half as Brian Brobbey, Enzo Le Fée and Wilson Isidor scored, and timely substitutions had a major effect on the last two efforts.
‘Til The End comes up trumps once again!
As I’ve mentioned before, this team doesn’t know when it’s beaten, and we’ve accumulated twenty two points from losing positions this season, which says a lot about our mentality.
Having our ‘coach on the field’ in Granit Xhaka clearly drives the team forward, but the substitutes’ bench with excellent choices available has had a huge influence — not least Luke O’Nien, who was excellent.
More crosses needed
Nilson Angulo was a starter yesterday, and with a clear expectation for crosses coming in from the left for Brobbey, yet he was heavily shackled by the Everton defence in the first half, which made the team unproductive in front of goal.
Substitutes Chris Rigg and Habib Diarra were hugely creative on the right wing, setting up crosses for the scoring opportunities for Le Fée and Isidor. Learning those lessons earlier could’ve led to an even more decisive away win.
Preparing for Europe?
Assuming we complete the league double over Chelsea next weekend, Sunderland are likely to qualify for European competition and will need a bigger squad.
Much of the late-season talk may have unsettled Lutsharel Geertruida, who impressed again as a starter, and Isidor. Despite all of the chit-chat, we have two excellent players available and who need to be carefully handled in order to be part of the expanded squad we will likely need in 2026/2027.
Looking at the way Isidor celebrated his cool finish by loving the club badge, as well as Geertruida’s cool effectiveness in a Sunderland shirt, we should make securing their futures a priority, with a relentless two-game per-week season approaching.
Mark Wood says…
A thoroughly deserved win
In terms of possession and controlling the game, we were by far the better side and even after we went behind to an unlucky goal from our point of view, you felt that at some point we would have an answer to it.
For all of our possession — which has been unusual for us in away matches — we were barely creating anything in the first half, but it was a different story in the second and we were carving Everton open as the game went on.
I would say this was probably our best away performance of the season — and perfectly timed, too.
Luke O’Nien proves his worth yet again
When Omar Alderete was injured and I saw O’Nien coming on, I’ll admit there was a part of me thinking that after the Aston Villa horror show, this would be the cue for our afternoon to go down the plughole.
Instead, O’Nien was an absolute rock at the back for us. He made at least three crunching important tackles and in terms of timing he completely nailed every one of them.
We’ve watched O’Nien all the way from day one in League One and I would rate this as one of his best games for us. In the context of the game and the quality of the Premier League opposition, would anyone else agree that it was his best?
It’s all still to play for!
Going into the last weekend of the season, we have a real chance of qualifying for Europe.
Both Brentford and Brighton have difficult games and although nothing is a given at this point, I reckon if we beat Chelsea at home next week, we’ll qualify. Who would’ve thought we would be in such a position before a ball was kicked last August? But here we are and if you ask me, we should go for it while the chance is there.
The players will, even if there are doubts amongst some of our fans about the impact on our season, but sometimes you have to take the chance when it’s presented.
A personal affair
I lived in the Merseyside area for over twenty five years and I had — and still do have — a lot of Everton-supporting friends and colleagues from my time there.
I went to Goodison Park a fair number of times, most of the time when Sunderland were in town and sometimes dragged along to an Everton game by the above mentioned Evertonian mates. And every time I saw Sunderland there, we got beaten (usually resoundingly), I had to listen to the post-match analysis of the home fans concluding — amongst other things — that “Sunderland must be a bloody awful team to watch every week” and you have to say they were right at times.
One gleeful good friend rubbed in the 7-0 humiliation with a text that simply said “Everton 7 (SEVEN) Sunderland 0”, so this is for them — or is it for David Moyes? I can’t decide yet!
