As pivotal a time as the Christmas period is, it’s not defining. However with the league as close as it is, picking up more points than you lose will obviously hold you in good stead. So sadly todays defeat knocks back our hopes, temporarily at least, of breaking into that top 6 soon. It makes Mondays game at Leicester a fairly big one too.
Today was always going to be a tough game, as hard as we’ve had since probably Cardiff at home a couple of months back. Preston are one of the better teams in the league and while much of this league is very similar, there are a couple of teams (Birmingham and Derby too) who are maybe just a step above. However our home form has been very good so there was certainly hope.
For a change we started very brightly. Again with 1 up front but Murphy starting on the right this time, where he’d finished the game on Tuesday and Wallace starting left. Miller and Leadbitter were dominating midfield and the tempo was quick and the ball was passed around sharply, which makes all the difference. Connolly was leading the line well and had a couple of efforts but nothing too close.
Then perhaps the pivotal moment of the match came. Caldwell had to go off with an injury and Nyatanga came on. Slot straight in he will, everyone thought. But as he jogged past Nosworthy (who’d started left back today) and went to his position with Nosworthy moving alongside Varga there was a noticeable grumble around the ground. Why couldn’t he just go to centre back?
The jury is still out on Nyatanga, it seems the management like him but he looks shaky in possession, is poor going forward and his passing belies the fact he’s a professional footballer. So, it seemed strange that he’d be made to go left back again, instead of play his more normal position. Perhaps Keane isn’t so sure of him after all and isn’t confident enough to put him in the middle?
After that disruption our early impetus faded and Preston came into he game more. Then on 36 minutes, a move initially started with Nyatanga giving the ball away, Ormerod got down the left ahead of the defence. Ward came out to meet him but his lobbed cross was met by Nugent with a tap in header.
It was a lead they didn’t deserve but it was clinical and maybe shows why they are at the top of the league. From then on the pattern of the game was largely Sunderland pressing and Preston sitting on their lead which they did fairly comfortably, certainly until half time.
Second half and the introduction of Elliott saw more come from the right, Murphy initially moving up front with Connolly before going back left again. There was plenty of effort and bluster and lots of play into the box but it was just met with a melee of defenders and always frustratingly broke down. Their keeper had little to do but field long range shots.
Chris Brown, another substitute, probably had the 2 best half-chances but put them both over the bar. Preston knew exactly how to win this game, get the early goal, waste time, break the game up and sit on their lead. We didn’t know how to get back into it, though we were probably unlucky not to get a draw.
So, with Mondays game awaiting, it’s important that we get something from that. Otherwise it will have been a poor period and we’ll probably have lost ground on those around us. With a cup game coming up, again against Preston, and the transfer window opening; January could turn out to be the pivotal period in this season for Sunderland.
Man of the match – Liam Miller
Report by marcopaul
