“It’s up to us. There is no place to hide, you have to take it. This is about getting the right team, picking the right players and doing things right for 90 minutes.”
Those were the words of Gus Poyet in October 2013 after the Uruguayan oversaw Sunderland’s sixth consecutive league defeat following a 4-0 beating at Swansea City. It was Poyet’s first game in charge of Sunderland after a dismal start to the 2013-14 Premier League campaign in which Paolo Di Canio had lost four of the first five games of the season before being sacked and replaced by caretaker boss, and club legend, Kevin Ball.
Ball lost both of his interim games in charge against Manchester United and Liverpool before Poyet’s defeat in South Wales made it six defeats on the spin, seven in their opening eight games of the season. To think Sunderland were able to recover that campaign and avoid relegation is quite remarkable – even more so when you consider how they did it given the position they found themselves in with just six games of the season remaining.
The importance of this stretch of games, however, is that it represents the last time Sunderland lost six consecutive league games in a row, until now.
Saturday’s defeat at Southampton, like that one at Swansea, saw Sunderland ship another four goals and, as Poyet said then, leaves no place to hide.
“It’s massively important things start to turn for us [soon],” explained current interim head coach Mike Dodds. “There'll be loads of things I get asked around the football club that are not related to the pitch and I always say the easiest way to alleviate those things is win football games.
“We have to do our bit, myself and the players, we have to do our bit to try and help the football club as a wider business and at the moment that's not happening. I know that's not acceptable but at the same time, as I've said a thousand times, I don't want anyone feeling sorry for me.
“I don't think there's been a fair hand dealt in terms of the fixtures in relation to the squad selection but it is what it is. I think the group are all in and we'll keep working and trying to improve.”
Sunderland never really gave themselves a chance here at St. Mary’s once Mason Burstow, back in the starting line-up to little effect once more, curled wide from a promising position in the opening minute of the game. Russell Martin’s side were comprehensively better in all areas of the field. They looked fitter, they were sharper, more cohesive and posed a significant threat – not that they needed that threat as Sunderland gift-wrapped the opening goal of the game for Stuart Armstrong.
Martin’s team executed a training ground free kick routine towards the back post where, in a moment of madness, Jobe Bellingham headed back into his own six-yard area to allow Jan Bednarek a free header at goal as Armstrong picked up the pieces from Anthony Patterson’s initial save. It’s a goal which felt symmetrical to three of the last four they had conceded with goals against Leicester City and Swansea also coming by virtue of the opposition reacting quicker than Sunderland in their penalty area to capitalise on a rebound.
The home side doubled their lead less than 10 minutes before half-time when 16-year-old Chris Rigg, starting a second successive game, was punished for a naïve sliding challenge on full-back Ryan Manning, a challenge borne out of frustration in his team-mates, no doubt.
“It's a weird one because we should have been out of sight at half-time is my feeling,” Southampton boss Martin said. “We let them have one shot inside the box that hit the post. The rest I think pretty much in the whole game came from outside the box.
“They came with such an aggressive press and when we got it right it was brilliant. The rhythm of the game changed so quickly it was almost like a counter-attack. But we need to make them pay. We score a set piece and then a penalty, but it shouldn't have taken that. We were behind the press and beating it and were four-v-three and three-v-three on so many occasions, we needed to make more of that.”
“Credit to Sunderland, they were great, they kept at it and when I started to feel they were getting a bit tired, they scored. And then they managed to maintain their energy, they were really aggressive with their press. We just didn't cut it open, the distances became too big, there was a bit of tension around the stadium, which I understand.
“It meant the subs had to come on and have a big impact, which they did. All of a sudden we were breaking behind again, the third and fourth goals were brilliant.
“I'm furious and frustrated we conceded two goals but we came through it and it's a big win.”
Those two goals for Sunderland epitomised the ‘out of nothing’ phrase in football as Romaine Mundle scored his first goal for the club with a long-range effort that looped over the outstretched arm of Gavin Bazunu, before Jobe made amends for his first half error with a spectacular curling effort nine minutes later.
For that 10-minute period where Sunderland had somehow clawed their way back into the game, they became vibrant and caused Southampton some issues – their cumulative xG across that period of the game registering at 0.18 which was more than a third of their total for the entire game.
And that’s the thing, in spells of this wretched run, Sunderland have demonstrated their capabilities in moments. But those moments are damagingly infrequent.
“In the first half in particular I just felt there were pockets and moments where an individual - and it's not one individual - didn't commit to that phase of the game,” Dodds said of his side’s lack of consistency in games.
“When you do that against top quality opposition, you'll get damaged. That being said, the two goals are set pieces, so it's not from them beating our press or beating the way we've set up that they scored. The point I made to the group was when you do fully commit to what we're trying to do, which we showed in the second half, you can see the rewards.
“Their last two goals were a by-product of that commitment to what we're trying to do, but on the flip side we also scored two really good goals because of that commitment.”
That 10 minute flurry from Sunderland should not detract from what was another deeply concerning display overall on their travels, a display and a result which sees them drop to 12th in the Championship table with plenty of reason to still cast a wandering eye over their shoulder with just nine points between them and the bottom three.
Southampton enjoyed 200 more completed passes than Sunderland, with 61 per cent of the possession – only the reverse fixture with Southampton at the Stadium of Light (33) and the FA Cup third round defeat to Newcastle United (36) have Sunderland had less possession in games this season. The Saints registered an xG of 3.32, which is the highest Sunderland have given up all season by some margin.
In contrast, this was yet another game whereby Sunderland’s xG failed to surpass 1. It’s the tenth time in 19 games since Tony Mowbray’s departure in December they have failed to record an xG above 1 having done so just twice this season under Mowbray in the goalless draw at Coventry City and the 4-0 home defeat by Middlesbrough when down to 10 men for the entirety of the second half.
“I feel they have such a talented squad, a very young squad,” Martin’s assessment of Sunderland. “Jack Clarke makes them a very different proposition. I think he's one of the best players in the league so when he's not in the team they're a different proposition. That's not being disrespectful because I think they're a really good team, and not a one-man team, but his numbers are huge and what he does for the team, he gets them up the pitch and has that fear factor.
“I really like them as a team, really like them. They've paid the price a bit with a lack of momentum with the managerial changes but that's their prerogative.”
Martin has seen both sides of Sunderland this season having found himself under pressure in the wake of the reverse fixture back in September after Mowbray’s side ran out emphatic 5-0 winners at the Stadium of Light. That victory felt like Sunderland rediscovering their mojo this season after what had been a difficult start to the campaign. It was part of a five-game unbeaten run and a run of five wins in six games as Sunderland flexed their muscle.
That fixture had its similarities with this one in that Sunderland gave up possession of the ball to Southampton who completed nearly 300 more passes across the game and restricted Sunderland to their lowest possession total of the season. But Mowbray’s side were hugely effective on the counter-attack; they recorded an xG of 1.93, outshot the Saints (18-13) and created more pressures (182-136) in a game which rivalled Dodds’ tactical approach against Leeds United as Sunderland’s standout performance of the season.
The contrast in the two teams on Saturday was vast - so much so it's hard to fathom the two games form part of the same season. This is now a Sunderland team who have retreated into their shells, a young squad who are being tested like they haven’t known and a club which seems rudderless.
The club have suffered relegation from the Premier League and relegation from the Championship in the decade since the last time they lost as many games in a row, but neither of those campaigns saw them lose as many consecutive games as they have here. Sunderland have entered uncharted territory at this level and, at the moment, there are no signs of things turning as a litany of mistakes have derailed a season which had threatened to offer so much.
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