After what felt like the tenth international break of the season finally drew to a close, it was time to gear up for a run of games that some pundits have described as the acid test for Sunderland’s Premier League campaign.
The narrative from the sceptics and naysayers seems to be that a brutal upcoming fixture list combined with a squad ravaged by departures for AFCON will see us slide down the table, despite the side competing well in our games against the self-appointed ‘Big Six’ and showing we have
strong options throughout the squad to minimise the impact of missing players.
Thankfully the squad made it through the two-week hiatus relatively unscathed for a change, and we were even spared the usual anxiety-inducing social-media story from someone’s mate’s uncle’s padel partner who works at the club saying that [insert key player] had pulled up in training.
Fulham are one of those archetypal mid-table clubs who seem to maintain their stable status through a strong home record while being poor travellers, so it was shaping up to be a tough trip to West London.
Of course, Sunderland’s last visit to this side of the capital didn’t go too badly, so the London Branch had been counting down the days to this one.
We opted not to change a winning formula, so headed down to Putney bright and early, taking shelter from the biting wind and rain in the Duke’s Head, a beautiful, historic establishment with a strong range of ales on tap.
After a couple of further stops at the Spotted Horse and the Coat and Badge, where we watched Chelsea brush Burnley aside in the early kick-off, it was time to cross Putney Bridge and traverse Bishop’s Park towards one of the Premier League’s most scenic grounds.
The packed away end was buoyant, as you’d expect given our brilliant start to the season, and the opening stages were actually fairly promising as Le Fée’s early effort was fired wide.
Unfortunately, this early promise faded quicker than the scant November daylight. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight it is easy to say that it was our safety-first formation that stifled us, but the Lads looked sluggish and uninventive as Fulham grew in confidence, pushing us further back and targeting the wings. We had a couple of fine saves from Roefs to thank for being level at the break, and sheltering our pints and pies from the rain, we knew an improvement would be needed in the second half to avoid leaving empty-handed.
Sadly, this improvement never really materialised. The referee’s shocking display can’t and won’t be used to mask our own obvious failings on the day, but the extent of his ineptitude was almost laughable, and the fact that the soft free-kick he awarded to Fulham led to our goal was the final kick in the teeth.
With the ‘’Til the End’ mantra in the back of everyone’s minds nowadays, we hoped for more late drama, but Sunderland failed to create anything of note to trouble Leno’s goal, and we were left to trudge through the park in the pitch black to reflect on a disappointing afternoon.
Still, the mood post-match at the Eight Bells pub was balanced and philosophical. Days like these are inevitable in the richest and strongest league in the world; if you’re even slightly below par, nine times out of ten you’ll be punished. Our start to the season has more than exceeded expectations, and plenty of other sides have and will come unstuck at Craven Cottage this season.
We ideally need a swift response next week at home to Bournemouth given the daunting run of fixtures looming in December, but this defeat has only put a small dent into the bank of credit this team have amassed.
