I think it sums up just how far Sunderland have come in such a short space of time that I sit here today writing this, feeling disappointed that Sunderland aren’t currently sat second in the Premier League table.
Whilst a win over Everton would have taken us there, we had to settle for a draw, and we find ourselves in a lowly fourth place. Woe is me!
In all seriousness, the standards at this club have been raised to such a degree that not being second is genuinely irritating. After the game, Granit
Xhaka spoke about how he felt that training the day before the game wasn’t ideal and had possibly contributed to our poor start against the Toffees. He is a born winner and, as such, will not tolerate ‘average’ from himself or his teammates, and that’s music to my ears.
Thankfully, we recovered well, and from about 25 minutes onwards, Sunderland were clearly the better team. We dominated the ball, got on top in the moments that mattered, and it’s to Everton’s credit that they managed to hold us off after such a sustained spell of pressure.
Xhaka himself led the comeback with a rather fortunate goal just after half time, and had the VAR officials done their job, we’d have been awarded a penalty for a handball from Michael Keane, which would have given us a chance to net a second of the night and possibly a winner.
I have to ask – what is the point in VAR if it’s not going to look at decisions like that one properly and then refer them to the referee? He should have been asked to take a second look at it on the monitor, as I have no doubt he’d have given Sunderland a penalty. If you flip it, had the referee awarded the handball, there is no way that VAR would have stepped in and told him he’d made the wrong decision. I don’t know – the mind boggles.
Look, it’s a shame we aren’t going into the Arsenal game in second as that would have made it a top-of-the-table clash, but it is what it is – really, league position isn’t all that important at this stage, and really it’s about performances.
If the Sunderland that played the first 25 minutes against Everton shows up against Arsenal, they’ll get trounced, but if the version of our team that played out the rest of the game turns up, we’ll give the Gunners a really good game, and I actually fancy us to get something. They’ve not conceded many yet this season, but we’re a strong and physical side like they are, and I’m really interested in seeing us pit ourselves against them, especially given they’ve gone to a more direct style as they strive to win their first Premier League title in a very long time.
Onwards and upwards. We’re in a really good place right now… fourth place.
