Sunderland returned to Wearside last night with a pleasing four points from two tricky outings in the Sky Bet Championship.
While the lads eased to victory over Norwich City on Sunday, last night proved a little different as George Honeyman’s early opener at Sheffield Wednesday was cancelled out by David Jones’ long-range effort.
Before we turn our attentions to Leeds United on Saturday though, Sam Lightle looks at what stood out and what was key in helping the Black Cats maintain their unbeaten start.
ON THE BACK FOOT
It wasn’t pretty but Simon Grayson did say it wouldn’t always be. Like at Norwich City, Sheffield Wednesday dominated much of the match, especially in the second 45 with the introduction of Steven Fletcher and Jordan Rhodes adding so much attacking threat alongside Gary Hooper. That said, a large bulk of the game was played in the middle of the park, with Sunderland’s backline and midfield reinforcements doing well to resolutely keep Wednesday at bay. And credit where credits due because it took Wednesday’s David Jones to score a sublime strike from 30 yards to break down Sunderland’s resolve. It’s not every week you’re going to concede long-range strike like that, at least I hope not.
WORK, WORK, WORK
If it’s one thing Grayson demands, then it's work. James Vaughan, Lee Cattermole and Didier Ndong are leading examples of that as you can see by the heat map below. The picture shows the ground covered by the trio throughout the 90 minutes at Hillsborough. Leading from the front, Vaughan’s tenacious efforts might have not been rewarded with a goal yet but you can’t fault his endeavours elsewhere. He defends from the front and makes life incredibly uncomfortable for the opposition’s backline. And then we have Catts and Ndong in the centre of the park. Ndong’s athleticism sees him move around the pitch with so much energy. He covered every blade of grass and last night was no exception. Ndong’s qualities complement the battering ram that is Cattermole. The club’s vice-captain, Cattermole, has made an impressive start to the season and seems to be forming a good understanding with Ndong, frustrating Norwich City and Sheffield Wednesday for large spells on their own turf.
DEFENSIVE RESILIENCE
In Sunderland’s last two outings the plan has been to soak up pressure and be clinical on the break. At Norwich, it worked. Last night, it did to some extent. Sheffield Wednesday provided more of an attacking threat than the Canaries did and it was good to see Lamine Kone and Ty Browning produce one of their best performances yet. Kone and Browning were like a wall at Hillsborough, putting everything they had on the line to preserve the lads’ lead. The picture below shows the amount of tackles Kone and Browning put in to make life incredibly tough for Wednesday as they looked to secure their first league clean sheet of the season. Unfortunately, that didn’t come but the duo can take heart from their efforts as only a speculative strike beat them.
