Sunderland 0-1 SouthamptonAway team scorers
Dusan Tadic 69 Pen
As the second half unfolded Sam Allardyce started scratching his head. Repeatedly. It is safe to assume this had nothing to do with the Sunderland manager’s choice of shampoo and was all about the dawning realisation that he is facing possibly his biggest managerial challenge.
In some ways the team have clearly improved things since his arrival but all things are relative and Allardyce has now lost three of his first four games in charge, the Wearsiders have won one Premier League game all season and remain lodged in the relegation zone.
Although at far from their best, Southampton merited victory on a day when Maarten Stekelenburg had only one serious save to make and Yann M’Vila’s lapse of judgment prompted a penalty impeccably converted by Dusan Tadic.
Watching the first half was a slightly gruelling experience, leavened only by a series of classy cameos from the aptly named Jordy Clasie. The Southampton midfielder seemed to touch the ball more than anyone else, not to mention control the pace and tempo and some of his interchanges with Dusan Tadic offered mini masterclasses in ball manipulation.
Mostly though it was about Ronald Koeman’s side dominating possession only to be betrayed by a combination of faulty final balls and some much improved central defensive positioning on the part of the previously suspect Sebastian Coates and Younès Kaboul.
In the wake of last Sunday’s 6-2 reverse at Everton Allardyce had sensibly scrapped his experiment with three at the back and Costel Pantilimon appeared a key beneficiary. Not that Sunderland’s goalkeeper was entirely idle. The Romanian did very well to spread himself before saving Tadic’s shot after Graziano Pellè had deceived Coates and company by backheeling to his team-mate rather than shooting. It might, though, have been different had Tadic opted to try and chip the keeper.
While Pantilimon also reacted well to repel Sadio Mané’s goalbound shot Maarten Stekelenburg was having a much quieter time of things. Granted Duncan Watmore – the young winger inexplicably overlooked by both Gus Poyet and Dick Advocaat – fully justified Allardyce’s decision to promote him to a starting role by causing Southampton persistent problems down the left, but Watmore’s team-mates persistently failed to capitalise on such advances. As half-time approached Watmore decided to cut inside and hone in on goal but found his path blocked courtesy of José Fonte’s thunderous interception .
The moment when, under no immediate pressure, Ola Toivonen dispatched a shot towards the corner flag seemed horribly emblematic of the home attacking threat and it came as scant surprise when the Swede was replaced by Fabio Borini after the interval.
If that switch must have frustrated Jermain Defoe – demoted to the bench by yet another Sunderland manager – Southampton, too, were becoming noticeably fed up as attacking manoeuvre after attacking manoeuvre foundered in the face of either Coates and Kaboul – (Allardyce’s captain for the day) – or the defensive midfield nous of Yann M’Vila. Borrowed from Rubin Kazan M”Vila, a France international who had lost his way but can pass a ball far more accurately than many on Wearside, is surely Sunderland’s signing of the season.
Billy Jones cuts a somewhat lower key figure but Sunderland’s left back did extremely well to block Pellè’s goalbound volley. Not to be upstaged, DeAndre Yedlin, Allardyce’s right back, put his head where it hurts to divert a Fonte header which had seemed destined to defy Pantilimon. As a prone Yedlin received prolonged treatment, the home manager looked suitably satisfied. Maybe his message is starting to get through; perhaps Sunderland’s players are actually reading all those instructions Allardyce keeps sending to their tablets and smartphones.
There was more of the same when Coates cleared Steven Davis’s shot off the line but Watmore wasted a glorious counter-attacking chance by shooting straight at Stekelenburg.
Then came one those moments of self destructive so wearingly familiar to Sunderland fans. His judgment momentarily deserting him, M’Vila lunged in on Ryan Bertrand – who awkwardly positioned, posed no immediate danger – in the penalty area and Tadic converted the penalty left footed.
Allardyce covered his head with his hands but his horizon brightened a little as Adam Johnson’s volley forced Stekelenburg into his first proper save and then the former England winger curved a free kick narrowly wide.
With Koeman promptly switching to a back five it represented Sunderland’s final glimmer of hope.
Guardian
