Sunderland lose second successive home match as Fulham capitalise on Black Cat frailties
The Wearsiders were far from their best, and despite Fulham being equally careless at times, they did enough to return to London with the win.
There is no doubt that Sunderland have been a valuable and worthy addition to the Premier League this season. At the Stadium of Light especially, they have served up some stellar performances, full of physicality and passion. The synergy between the players in red and white, and those adoring the same colours in the stands has been something to behold.
Certainly, the Black Cats have bucked the recent trend of being a newly promoted side who were simply happy to be in the Premier League before returning to the Championship with barely a whimper. It has been very impressive to say the least.
In recent weeks however, some of that never-say-die attitude and bullish physicality has been slightly lacking, which has been reflected in the losses that the Black Cats have suffered. This came to the forefront again, as Fulham took all three points from the Stadium of Light.
Régis Le Bris admitted himself that Sunderland are “a bit less dominant physically”, at present.
“It’s probably a bad period at the moment”, Le Bris continued, seemingly hoping that the current lack of aggression will not persist for the rest of the season. Sunderland will have to find a momentum-breaking win from somewhere though, and rediscover the bite that made them so formidable earlier on in the season.
Le Bris, clearly aware of that notion, made clear that “we have to find solutions rather than searching for excuses”, which will appease supporters, during what is quite clearly a rough patch on Wearside. It is one that needs to be navigated to make sure that Sunderland are indeed comfortable come May.
The only way to describe the first half was sloppy. Quality was at a minimum from both sides, who instead of trying to win the match, were seemingly having a competition to see who could give the ball away the most. It did not make for brilliant viewing.
On top of the dire play, there were an unusual amount of injuries. Sunderland saw both Nordi Mukiele and Jocelin Ta Bi forced off because of knocks, with Fulham having to replace Kevin. Perhaps the only moments of slight excitement from an otherwise forgettable first period were Sunderland making some blocks high up which invigorated the crowd, and Fulham pushing forward for the odd counter attack.
It was certainly nothing to write home about, but surely the second half would not be as poor? Well, Sunderland made an attempt to get things going at the start of the second half. They started the period with much more energy and really should have taken the lead via Romaine Mundle. With only the goalkeeper in his way he somehow managed to put his shot wide of the post.
The miss from Mundle was undoubtedly a bad one, and Fulham punished Sunderland for it, by finally delivering a good ball into the box. It was a corner swung in by Alex Iwobi and headed home by Raúl Jiménez. The second for the visitors followed soon after. After VAR review Brian Brobbey was adjudged to have pulled the shirt of Calvin Bassey in the Sunderland box and a penalty was awarded by Craig Pawson. Jiménez, after a stutter, sent Roefs the wrong way for his second.
The Stadium of Light has been a fortress all season long for Sunderland but all of a sudden the walls were falling down. The damage done by Liverpool in Sunderland’s last outing on Wearside in penetrating the defences, was now allowing Fulham to knock them down entirely.
Of course, regardless of what has been thrown at Sunderland this season, they have never backed down. This occasion was no different, and thanks to a spot kick scored by Enzo Le Fée, they found themselves back in the game when their performance really did not merit it.
Ultimately though, the Black Cats were unable to draw level this time. After the initial excitement of Le Fée’s goal, they quickly returned to the disjointed display that had plagued them all afternoon. Iwobi then grabbed Fulham’s third in the 85th minute, lifting the ball over Roefs from a tight angle to seal the victory. After having not lost a game at home all season before Liverpool visited Wearside, they had now lost two in a row.
Some may call this defeat a bad day at the office, but the more sobering truth is that Sunderland have not played well for several weeks now. Their only recent league win against Burnley was just as much a result of Burnley being extremely poor as it was Sunderland being good.
It could be argued that the absence of Granit Xhaka in that time has been a huge factor, and that is undoubtedly true, and that his return off the bench in this match may pave the way for better performances to come. However, that does infer that Sunderland are simply not the same team without him in it, something which is quite concerning.
Xhaka will need time to get up to full speed in the games to come, and whilst that occurs, Sunderland must be more effective as a cohort. They cannot rely on their Swiss star to constantly pull the strings for them, otherwise their season is at real risk of petering out.