2. Sunderland have real attacking threat
In Jermain Defoe, Ola Toivonen, Fabio Borini and Jeremain Lens Sunderland have plenty of attacking options in their arsenal. For this match Borini and Lens started in the wide positions with Defoe as the central striker and Toivonen playing just behind him. Defoe proved today that although his manager has doubts, he can play in the central striking role. The front three of these four are very interchangeable which has the potential to cause defenders issues.
Borini and Lens caused plenty of problems down the flanks with their running and willingness to drop deep to get the ball to feet. Defoe was a constant menace to the Spurs backline with his defence-splitting runs. One of Defoe’s runs almost opened the scoring after Lens played him through. He outpaced the Tottenham defence, beat Lloris in goal but the post denied him. Toivonen seems like a man who is always calm, excellent on the ball and able to pick out a pass. Once these four gel then goals will surely come for them,
3. M’Vila is a real find
Yann M’Vila has had a very good start to his Sunderland career since arriving on a one year loan deal and he continued that form into this match. With Lee Cattermole dropped to the bench, M’Vila was Sunderland’s main defensive midfielder. Many times he blocked the Tottenham attacks before they got close to Sunderland’s backline thus protecting the defence. His passing is good, and he can take a mean free kick, as we saw at Aston Villa, and can get forward when the time is right. With Jordi Gomez coming into the team and not disgracing himself, Lee Cattermole may have a fight on his hands to get back into the starting eleven.
4. Fitness may be an issue
Sunderland played well in this in this game matching Tottenham in every department and on several occasions in the first half especially, outplaying them. But from around the 70th minute, tiredness kicked in, especially to those who have recently signed.
Sunderland signed many players during the last transfer window, three coming in during the latter stages. These were Fabio Borini, Ola Toivonen and Deandre Yedlin. Borini and Toivonen started the game against Tottenham, both played well but both were substituted. With these two however, it comes down to a less than straight forward pre season and it will take them a little while longer to get up to full match fitness. But what about the other players?
Younes Kaboul played little football last season, especially during the second half of that campaign, but the rest of the Sunderland squad still look to be lagging behind other teams in terms of fitness. Maybe their long pre-season trip to North America took it out of the team too much heading into the new season. The first two games of the season suggested this. Maybe a tour closer to home would be more beneficial next summer.
Sunderland’s game vs Tottenham has shown that they are getting up to speed, with all the team putting in a real shift on the pitch. Sunderland supporters appreciated their efforts, applauding them off the field at the final whistle. Although Sunderland are still yet to register a Premier League win this season, there are signs that the team has what it takes and that their supporters can take positives and remain confident for the time being that everything on the pitch will very soon click into place.
