The narrative heading into the home game against Man City was that with several players unavailable, Sunderland could come unstuck against a team in ominous form. City headed to the SoL on the back of
an eight game winning run, which included a 2-1 win at Real Madrid in the Champions League. We knew a tough night would be ahead, but perhaps we underestimated just how bloody good Sunderland would be. Defensively, we were giants amongst men. Every single player chucked themselves at loose balls, crosses, shots, and through this, we were able to keep one of the best attacks in world football at bay.
In the first half in particular, Erling Haaland was made to look very ordinary. I hope he was comfortable in Nordi Mukiele’s pocket because he spent most of New Year’s Day evening inside it. Nordi and Omar Alderete, who were signed for a combined total of less than £20 million, were out of this world.
Watching them boss Haaland and co for 90 minutes was an absolute joy to watch, but the best part about these two isn’t just their love of no-nonsense defending; it’s also that they are very good, technical footballers. When Omar won the ball back, and then immediately Cruyff turned out of danger and towards the halfway line, I was in shock and awe.
It’s things like this that highlight the high level of confidence circulating our team. Most of us would never dream of trying something like that to get out of a tricky situation, but Omar was the coolest man on Wearside when he pulled that out.
We always knew that a lot of time would be spent on NYD defending, and with Dan Ballard still missing, our defence wasn’t at its strongest. However, Dennis Cirkin had an incredible second Premier League appearance, and Lutsharel Geertruida was magnificent. Having Trai Hume as an option to push on in midfield when attacking, but then drop into a back five when defending, worked a treat.
These five look as though they love defending so much, and Sunderland crowds home and away have fallen in love with this too. Comments on social media suggested that many City fans and neutral football supporters noticed that every kick, tackle, block, and throw-in was cheered like a goal.
Some said that we treated the game like a major cup final, and in many ways we did, but we’ve done this with almost every home game this season, and that’s probably why we’re still unbeaten at the SoL after 10 league games.
All that many of us want from Sunderland players is commitment and passion. In our current squad, we have buckets full of both, but we also have some bloody good, technical footballers. When these elements come together, they create a team that will stand up to anyone in the division and say, ‘Come and get us. ’
Against a City team that has been pieced together by spending hundreds of millions of pounds, we at times bullied them, and if anything in home games against Arsenal and then City, we’ve shown teams how to play against them: high, quick press, and when they’re on the ball, don’t give them an inch.
We’re exactly halfway through our first season back in the Premier League, 19 games, and we’ve lost just four times. Including a run of games in December that we all told we’d fear, and with the last three matches seeing half a dozen players away at AFCON, we’ve lost one of our previous seven.
This team has an incredible amount of passion and ability, and we are an absolute joy to watch every single week. The second half of the season will have some rough spells, but this team is made of strong stuff. Let’s see what else it can achieve in the coming weeks and months.
