Monsieur Salut writes: Pete Sixsmith gave this one a miss so I am the the stand-in for his usual seven-word verdict on a game in which we looked just about able to avoid defeat for 75 minutes. It took a clever piece of play by Divock Origi to break our strong resistance led by John O’Shea and Lamine Kone and we might even have snatched a lead against the run of the play with earlier chances that fell to Pienaar and Watmore. Ndong’s late foul that gave Liverpool a second from the penalty spot looked needless but probably didn’t change an outcome that by then seemed inevitable. No dishonour, then, but we were not able to bridge the quality gap …
November 26 Liverpool (0) 2 Sunderland (0) 0 * Committed, organised resistance overcome by better side
November 19 Sunderland 3 (1 ) Hull City 0 (0 ) Victor’s the boy. We have some hope
November 5 Bournemouth (1) 1 Sunderland (1) 2 *Anichebe typifies gutsy display that gives hope
October 29 Sunderland (0) 1 Arsenal (1) 4 Spectacular collapse as soon as Giroud appeared
October 26 EFL Cup 4th Round: Southampton (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 0 * More fight but still no real threat
October 22 West Ham United (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 0 A real killer. Deserved a point. Damn
October 15 Stoke City (2) 2 Sunderland (0) Another inadequate performance that offers little hope
October 1 Sunderland (0) 1 West Bromwich Albion (1) 1 Awful lot of cracks to paper over
September 24 Sunderland (1) 2 Crystal Palace (0) 3 Shambolic defending, barely of Wearside League quality
EFL Cup 3rd Round: September 21 QPR (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 2 *Paddy McNair our new Defoe? No but…
September 18: Tottenham Hotspur 1 (0) Sunderland 0 (0) Point lost thanks to traditional defensive howler
September 12 Sunderland 0 (0) Everton 3 (0) Torn apart in an abysmal second half
August 27. Southampton 1 (0) Sunderland 1 (0) Disappointing at the end, as ever here
August 24. EFL Cup 2nd Round: Sunderland 1 (0) Shrewsbury Town 0 (0) Poor game settled by an excellent goal
August 21: Sunderland 1 (0) Middlesbrough 2 (2) Another season of struggle on the cards
August 13: Man City (1) 2 Sunderland (0) 1 Held them well but tired legs told
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