West Brom’s Saido Berahino gives Sunderland’s Sam Allardyce losing start
West Brom 1 - 0 SunderlandSaido Berahino 54
And that, Sam Allardyce, is the fine mess into which you have walked. This was not Sunderland’s most ramshackle display of the season – for a while they even looked like marking the new manager’s debut with their first clean sheet of the campaign – but then that familiar self-destructive streak resurfaced and plus points were outweighed by elementary blundering. Costel Pantilimon was the culprit this time, the goalkeeper’s mistake early in the second half presenting Saido Berahino with an opportunity to nick a winning goal that Albion had not looked capable of scoring otherwise.
Sunderland fans’ cheery endorsement of Allardyce’s appointment made this week’s release of his autobiography happily timed, especially as, for now, the 60-year-old can still boast of never being relegated from the Premier League. Maintaining that record beyond this season could prove the stiffest challenge of a managerial career than began over 25 years ago at the The Hawthorns, where he was once assistant to then WBA manager Brian Talbot.
Allardyce was parachuted into Sunderland to rescue a team that was already five points below 17th-place Albion, whose current manager, Tony Pulis, must still be braced for a fight to preserve his own relegation-free resumé despite this gruelling victory. Allardyce made three enforced changes to the Sunderland line-up that began the 2-2 draw with West Ham a fortnight ago, with midfielder Sebastian Larsson making his first league start since August and Younès Kaboul restored to the centre of a defence whose brittleness this season has often trespassed into comedic territory, with the Frenchman contributing a few slapstick performance prior to losing his place. For a while here, all was well at the back for the visitors.
Sunderland, clad in pea-green and hoping to see shoots of recovery, also made a bright start offensively, and there was nothing agricultural about it. Jordi Gómez, the third change from the West Ham game, was the classiest midfielder in action, pulling strings for the visitors as they passed tidily.
Albion began less promisingly, with Berahino giving away possession in the first minute to allow Sunderland to send Fabio Borini racing free. The Italian sent a dangerous low ball across the face of goal. Albion cleared that cross well enough but were far less assured 10 minutes later when shots from Lee Cattermole and Steven Fletcher brought desperate blocks.
Boaz Myhill then had to made an excellent one-handed save to tip over a close-range diving header from Billy Jones after a corner by Gómez provoked an unseemly scramble in the home box.
Albion had come into the game eager to show signs of improvement, too, as Pulis was castigated for the team’s meek showing at Crystal Palace in their last outing. Perhaps in an effort to refute accusations of negativity, the manager brought Stéphane Sessègnon back in from the cold. The Benin international, an artful inventor when in form, did more than most here to elevate the home team’s performance above bleak. He was also the first Albion player to go close to scoring, firing wide from the edge of the area in the 21st minute.
Sunderland began to cede territory around the half-hour mark, prompting Allardyce to gesticulate angrily at his players from the sideline, but Albion could not find the creativity to infiltrate an uncharacteristically tight Sunderland defence. When Craig Dawson skied a 25-yard shot into the stands in the 37th minute, the crowd could no longer contain their frustration. There was more booing as the players trudged off at half-time.
There was little immediately after the resumption to relieve the bleakness – until the 53rd minute brought another outbreak of the haplessness that Allardyce has to eradicate. A humdrum cross from the left by Christ Brunt should not have caused the visiting defence much anguish, but Pantilimon, attempting to reach around Berahino to clasp the ball, dropped it at the feet of the strike, who was quick-witted enough to backheel it into the net from four yards.
Allardyce now needed to introduce more incisiveness so replaced Larsson with Adam Johnson. But Albion, now infused with confidence, threatened to score again, Salomón Rondón poking another cross by Brunt wide at the near post.
Sunderland’s inability to muster any kind of forward momentum convinced Allardyce to replace Gómez with Jermain Defoe and try a slightly more direct approach. But Myhill was not bothered again.