Burnley defeat shows this is a work in progress
PROOF that Sunderland are very much a work in progress was provided by a game which saw a well-organised side prosper at the expense of a more talented one.
Burnley have a simple game-plan, players who know their jobs and a team which completely understands that less than total effort will see them lose games in this division
Expensively-assembled, multi-talented Sunderland, by contrast, are trying to change their style of play, accommodate a raft of new signings and develop a team at ease with itself.
If the Burnley game brought anything home to Steve Bruce over the weekend, it must have been that Rome wasn't built in one transfer window.
Initially it looked as though the form and fluency of clearly superior Sunderland would be enough to overcome Owen Coyle's willing but workmanlike side.
The way Sunderland started, Burnley were in danger of being swept away.
But then came Anton Ferdinand's 12th minute rush of blood which gifted Burnley a penalty and rocked Sunderland backed on their heels.
Deprived of momentum - perhaps collectively astonished by Ferdinand's rashness - it took Sunderland's players a while to recover.
But having gone into the break level, thanks to Darren Bent's third goal in two games, Bruce would have hoped Sunderland could go on to win the game; certainly not to lose it.
By then though, the Black Cats' best football was behind them, and Burnley had the sharpness to punish the visitors when they got sloppy.
Sunderland made only change to the side which thrashed Hull City 4-1 the previous week, Lee Cattermole was out injured and Kieran Richardson was moved from stand-in left-back to his preferred central midfield role; fit-again George McCartney returning to fill the full-back slot.
They were facing a a Burnley side unchanged from the one which lost 4-0 to Liverpool at Anfield, as manager Coyle demonstrated his faith in players who he knows will be on the wrong end of a few beatings through no fault of their own this season.
It looked as though it could be defeat by a similar scoreline against Sunderland as Bruce's men mastered the Clarets from the opening whistle.
The visitors played some lovely football in as one-sided an opening as you're likely to see.
Bruce had kept faith with the Darren Bent-Fraizer Campbell partnership after the Hull result, and Campbell tested Burnley's burly keeper Brian Jensen as early as the third minute, although the narrow angle as he cut in from the right made the save routine for the Dane.
Campbell was then unlucky in the sixth minute when he was a fraction away from converting an Andy Reid free-kick from the left which caused consternation in the box, Jensen and Campbell scrambling agonisingly for possession before Grant McCann stabbed the ball clear.
Bent turned provider in the eighth minute when he surged down the right and put a ball across the face of goal, only for Jensen to arrive a fraction of a second earlier than Campbell on the dangerous cross.
Burnley didn't feature as an attacking force until the 11th minute, when striker Steven Fletcher took possession 25 yards out on the right of goal and swivelled on a shot which curled up and over Craig Gordon's bar.
The hurried shot seemed to indicate growing concern in the Burnley ranks, even at this early stage.
But then came Ferdinand's howler – Graham Alexander's astute ball from midfield playing in Wade Elliot down the right, and Ferdinand completely taking his opponent out with a tackle which was at best badly mis-timed or at worst nave.
It gave referee Chris Foy no other option than to point to the spot, and penalty specialist Graham Alexander made no mistake with a shot driven straight down the middle as Craig Gordon flopped to his left.
Sunderland tried to hit back immediately, the lively Andy Reid winning a corner and firing it over to the far post from the left, where Steed Malbranque rifled a shot back across goal which was inches wide of the target.
There was a great chance to equalise in the 21st minute when a chip from the halfway line saw two Burnley defenders get in a mix-up, and the ball dropped to Bent 12 yards out, who did well to get a dropping ball on target, but Jensen had moved in to smother.
By now, Sunderland had regained control of the game, and, despite having to beware Burnley attacks on the break, they dominated and grabbed a deserved equaliser in the 39th minute.
Reid was the architect, taking possession on the left-wing near the corner flag and cutting back infield, before stabbing a precision pass forward through a crowd of bodies.
The ball found Bent moving just ahead of the Burnley defence but with Clark Carlisle still playing him onside, and the striker took his time before driving a low right-foot shot to Jensen's left for the leveller.
Both sides were positive before the break – substitute Joey Gudjonsson rising at the near post from a left wing corner to angle a header inches wide at the far post; Darren Bent out of luck with a left-foot shot from 25 yards out which swirled narrowly over Jensen's bar.
But as the two teams went in at the break it was Sunderland fans who could be happier, having seen their side produce the better football and dominate proceedings.
At that stage, the vast majority of the red and white army would have hoped for a win but settled for a draw.
At the final whistle, not only had they seen their side defeated, but they would have found it difficult to complain about the scoreline.
Sunderland started the second period solidly and Campbell was desperately unlucky not to put his side in front for the first time in the 53rd minute from one of his side's slickest moves of the match.
Reid did well to cross from the left to the far post, where Malbranque drove the ball back in first time, Bent stepped over it in the middle, and Campbell volleyed goalwards, from 15 yards out.
It was superbly struck but straight at Jensen, who parried it away.
At this point Burnley looked to be fading, and just before the hour, Coyle brought on substitute David Nugent, who helped completely change the game.
Five minutes after Nugent's arrival, Bruce took off Malbranque and replaced him with Kenwyne Jones – another player who was to help change the game, although not in the way Sunderland might have wanted.
Burnley regained the lead in the 67th minute when Wade Elliott put in a great run down the right, exchanged passes with Tyrone Mears and crossed in the perfect ball for Nugent to head home from six yards.
It was a good goal, but Sunderland had been caught flat-footed defensively.
Instead of rallying, Sunderland faded, and Burnley could easily have extended their lead in the minutes that followed – the officials missing a Ferdinand handball and the home team at times running Sunderland ragged.
The Wearsiders might have got a scarcely-deserved equaliser in the 82nd minute when their man-of the-match Reid put in a right-footed cross from the right and skipper Lorik Cana headed just over the bar and onto the roof of the net.
But the game was settled in the 86th minute when Jones capped a sulky performance by completely missing George McCartney with a pass which allowed Burnley to sweep upfield.
With Sunderland unable to close the marauding opposition down, the ball was put out to the right wing, and when Elliott found Nugent in the box, the striker wrong-footed three Sunderland players around him, turned goalwards and lofted a shot into the top right-hand corner.
The result brought to an end a dismal run for Burnley, who had not beaten Sunderland in a league match for more than three decade, and had conceded at least twice in the teams' last five meetings.
For Sunderland it was a threefold reminder: 1) it will take time for this team to gel, 2) defensive lapses and a lack of goals from midfield are still a concern, and 3) Lee Cattermole is a more important player to this Sunderland team than he sometimes looks.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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