How will Sunderland cope without Reinildo during AFCON?
Sunderland fell to a comfortable defeat against Man City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon
It wasn’t as bad as the scoreline looks.
In the end Manchester City ran out comfortable winners and on balance of play, it was clearly deserved. On the day that Aston Villa beat Arsenal, Pep Guardiola’s side opened up the title race with a superb performance that suggested they are very strong contenders.
Powered by a standout performance from Rayan Cherki, whose assist for the third goal has to be seen on replay to be believed, they outclassed Sunderland in and out of possession. Cherki’s display was most certainly the best Sunderland have faced this season, and one that will live long in the memory.
The visitors shouldn’t lose heart, though. The two goals in the first half were from a deflection and a corner, while they had twice gone close to reducing the deficit shortly before Foden’s goal that ended this as a contest.
Days like this are inevitable at this level and many other sides will experience one here if City continue on this trajectory. It has been a demanding week and four points represents a solid return. The focus will quickly turn to Newcastle United, a game for which Noah Sadiki and Granit Xhaka will be available after avoiding suspension.
The frustration for Sunderland was that they arrived at the interval 2-0 down and yet Erling Haaland had barely threatened, nor did Jeremy Doku until the very latter stages of the half.
And yet it would be impossible to argue that the lead wasn't deserved, arguably the first time Sunderland have been genuinely outclassed this season. Man City's movement of the ball is impressive but most notable in the opening exchanges was their work out of possession.
Sunderland defended their box well, albeit with the hosts wasting a couple of decent crossing opportunities, but just couldn't escape the immediate press from Guardiola's side. When they went long to Wilson Isidor, it was inevitably swept up imperiously by either Gvardiol or Dias. The opening fifteen minutes or so looked ominous but to their credit, Sunderland started to find some ways out. They went relatively close when Traore moved infield nicely, playing a pass into the feet of Le Fee. He drove to around 20 yards out and caught his effort sweetly, but could only fire into the side netting. They then worked another half chance when Mukiele pounced on a rare loose pass, finding Isidor through the heart of the pitch with a nice ball. Isidor ran through but Dias defending well, forcing him a little too wide and forcing the shot when it came. The positive for Sunderland was that with Traore drifting into midfield, they wee starting to play out of the pressure a little.
So they would have been relatively happy despite the dominance of the hosts when the goal did come, though. You could be critical and argue that either Isidor or Le Fee should have closed Dias down, but in trutth they would ordinarily rather the centre back shoot than leave space for Haaland and co. The long-range drive was tremendous, and a nick off the head of Ballard left Roefs with absolutely no chance. Foden then curled a strong corner into the heart of the box and Gvardiol rose highest, powering a header past Roefs to make it two.
In a matter of minutes, the game looked to have run away from Sunderland.
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City continued their dominance at the start of the second half, and that Le Bris had turned to Talbi and Brobbey within five minutes spoke volumes. Moments before, City had gone close a third when Doku cut in from the left and curled an effort off the base of the far post, Foden’s effort on the rebound blocked brilliantly by Ballard.
Before Brobbey and Talbi could enter the fray, however, Sunderland had two big chances to reduce the deficit. Isidor pounced on a rare lapse from Dias to break free in the box, but Donnarumma did well to stand tall and block his close-range effort. From the corner that followed not long after, the ball ran to Xhaka at the back post and having taken a moment to steady himself, the midfielder smashed a powerful drive off the foot of the near post. Donarumma would have been well beaten. Geertruida then had to head Haaland’s effort off the line following some strong footwork from Cherki, the game now broken wide open as the Black Cats pushed on.
Sunderland were successfully getting up the pitch in search of a goal, but they were leaving space on the break and that meant danger as well as opportunity. When Talbi’s cross from deep was cut out, Haaland gathered a ball the ball and City swept forward. There was still much to do for Cherki, but he beat Hume twice before unfurling a rabona cross. Foden had found space in the box and headed in off the underside of the bar, leaving Roefs with no chance.
That Haaland, Foden and Gvardiol fairly promptly withdrawn by Guardiola, you could sense Sunderland’s second-half resistance had been snuffed out with the goal. Le Bris also acted swiftly, almost immediately withdrawing Xhaka and Sadiki. It was a pragmatic decision with the threat of a suspension for the derby looming, but it understandably left City with acres of space in the moments afterwards. Sunderland were fortunate that they didn’t go further behind as Reijnders and Cherki spurned decent chances, though the introduction of the two wingers did give Sunderland some presence in the final third.
There was one final sting in the tale for Sunderland as Luke O’Nien was late to a challenge on Matheus Nunes and deservedly shown a red card after a VAR review. In the end, it was very much one of those afternoons. A chastening loss, that Sunderland have to move quickly on from.
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