Ballard vs Haaland
Facing up against the toughest individual opponent in the league in the form of Erling Haaland, I think that Ballard in particular could leave the pitch with his head held high yesterday. Haaland barely had a sniff at goal throughout the match, with one illuminating stat showing that the Nordic giant had just one touch in the first half. It’s fair to say that Geertruida did his part in keeping Haaland from adding to his goal tally with a fantastic goal-line clearance, but it was Ballard in the main
who hushed him up throughout. While the attention dedicated to Haaland may have led to the space for City’s other threats to punish us, I think the performance was a testament to how far Ballard has come as a defender in this last year.
City’s Class Shines Through
In terms of quality, I feel like this was the type of game that Sunderland fans had thoughts of when first imagining how the Premier League season might look for us. While the Lads played reasonably well throughout, City showed how good they could be yesterday on both a team and individual level. Individuals like Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, and most brilliantly of all Rayan Cherki made it clear that they are at the top of their game, with the latter showing a moment of undeniable quality for their third goal. It’s difficult to be too critical following matches like this – I think we were fairly outclassed and outplayed by one of the best in the world, and I’m happy to move on, taking what lessons we can from the game.
Missed Chances Cost Us
While we were outplayed, especially in the first half, we did have some excellent chances throughout the game to hurt City. While the first half played out fairly passively, a flash at the near post from Le Fée could have troubled Donnarumma if six inches to the right, while Isidor had an opportunity to blaze through the City half before being closed down and eventually winning a corner.
The second half was far more promising from a Sunderland point of view, with big chances falling to Xhaka and Isidor. Isidor’s in particular was a huge moment which will surely be on his mind this weekend, just as the Liverpool chance was in midweek. After stealing the ball from a laboured Rúben Dias, Wilson could only put the bobbling effort down the throat of the onrushing Donnarumma, taking our best chance of the game with it. Without wanting to put too much analysis into it, I think we may just be used to this with Wilson at this point, and I’ve accepted that he may not be the most clinical striker at all times, but he makes up for it with his instinctual finishing and streaks of fine form. Just moments later, Xhaka’s opportunity came and went, crashing against the post before being cleared. It was a sign that we could compete, but it did feel like we may have needed to take those huge opportunities to have a chance of taking anything from the game.
Reinildo’s Impact Missed
Thankfully, Le Bris confirmed that Reinildo will be back next week after missing out with a minor groin injury, but we missed Reinildo badly yesterday on the left side of defence. Trai Hume is a fantastically versatile player, but at this level out-of-position players can be punished, and I think that’s what we saw in places yesterday.
In both the offensive and defensive aspects of the game, Hume unfortunately couldn’t quite match up with what Reinildo has offered in recent weeks. Part of this is down to having two right-footers on the left, limiting our ability to build attacks with the triangles and overlaps that Le Bris loves. And while Hume is usually a great defender, I think that he suffered when trying to defend against the likes of Cherki and Silva on his weaker side – something that was most clearly evidenced by City’s brilliant third goal. Here, Hume was on the receiving end of some incredible skill from Cherki to create the space for an audacious rabona assist. It truly was a fantastic goal, but I’d be curious to have seen that battle if that spot had been filled by our usual left-back.
All Eyes Turn to Newcastle
Without wanting to discredit the effort of the Lads on the pitch yesterday, I think it could be said that the derby was on the minds of some – specifically in midfield. Xhaka and Sadiki were obviously coming into the game on four yellow cards apiece, and the decision to start them at all was something that all fans may not have agreed on. Their performances weren’t as blood-and-thunder as we’ve come to expect, and I suspect that looming suspensions were a big part of that – their substitutions at 3-0 were a welcome one as the game was effectively lost at that point.
We did, however, make it through without injury and without suspension, and now we have a squad – with Reinildo returning – at full force for the derby (save for a certain Luke O’Nien). The excitement has been building since the start of the season, but now we can truly start to feel the tension.
Luke Sees Red
Speaking of Luke, he did unfortunately get himself a straight red card today after a late, hard tackle on Matheus Nunes just five minutes after replacing Hume. Le Fée did leave him short for the challenge, but the decision to go in so recklessly was perhaps indicative of how eager Luke was and how much he wanted to impress. It’s a shame, as he’ll be devastated at missing the chance to play any part at Newcastle and missing two games during the AFCON period which is depleting our squad already. It’s a sharp change of tone after writing so lovingly about Luke’s debut just four days ago, but it shows what can happen in the Premier League when you’re not up to pace.
