No wonder Sunderland supporters dream of playing Newcastle United every week. They rejoiced loudly at Goodison Park in the “six in a row” of Tyne-Wear derby victories but recoiled at a six-goal performance from Everton that exposed the cause of their team’s latest fight for survival. Constructing a recognisable defence remains an urgent priority for Sam Allardyce.
Arouna Koné scored his first hat-trick in English football, Romelu Lukaku led the Everton attack superbly and Gerard Deulofeu was a constant creative menace as Roberto Martínez’s team recorded the club’s highest goal tally in a Premier League fixture since a 7-1 win over Roy Keane’s Sunderland in 2007. Everton’s balanced, clinical attack pulverised the visitors with three goals in a seven-minute spell at the heart of the rout.
Yet that does not explain the nature of Sunderland’s defeat. Allardyce’s side had 17 shots on goal, 12 on target in Tim Howard’s 400th appearance for Everton, and recovered from two goals down to equalise early in the second half. But Sunderland’s defensive unit was appalling, their game intelligence non-existent when they had the chance to capitalise on Goodison’s frustration. The hosts appeared to be scoring at will midway through the second half as the visitors stood back and admired devastating counterattack after counterattack.
“I am concerned about the lack of understanding in certain periods of the game, particularly when we got back to 2-2,” the Sunderland manager said. “We decided to go and attack for the third and within seven minutes we tossed the game away and allowed Everton to score three silly, sloppy goals. That lack of discipline, understanding has really frustrated me. We should have been satisfied with the 2-2 and we might have got on the end of a counterattack and made it 3-2. That sums it up for me, lack of understanding. We made the wrong decisions.
“A 2-2 is like a win in the position we are in. We can score a goal and create chances but until we get into the habit of defending better out of possession, it is worthless how many goals we score. The lack of discipline and understanding is the biggest concern for me.”
It added to Allardyce’s frustration that Sunderland made the better start. The plan to stifle Everton’s creativity by employing wing-backs, nullify the threat of Lukaku with three central defenders and hit Steven Fletcher early initially succeeded. Sunderland were unfortunate not to be two goals ahead as Patrick van Aanholt and Adam Johnson hit the post before Everton created a meaningful attack.
Fletcher was dominant in the air against John Stones and Ramiro Funes Mori with Jermain Defoe alert to the flick-on but Sunderland’s defence disintegrated at the first sign of Everton ingenuity. The outstanding Koné exploited the space between Billy Jones and the left wing-back Van Aanholt with a delightful pass through to Deulofeu. The young Spaniard scored his first league goal of the season confidently, cutting inside Jones before converting through the legs of Costel Pantilimon. Everton seized control and Koné doubled the advantage with a fine finish after a slick one-two with Lukaku. Pantilimon was easily beaten despite being close to the shot but could also ask why six outfield players allowed the Everton forwards to pass at will on the edge of their area.
The game appeared over as a contest and Everton believed so too. Their play became increasingly sloppy and Defoe gave Sunderland a superb lifeline with the final kick of the first half. Stones was guilty of ball-watching as Sebastián Coates drilled a long ball forward. Defoe nipped in as the defender backed off, lifted the ball over the covering Funes Mori and beat Howard with the aid of a slight deflection off the England defender.
Sunderland levelled when Fletcher beat Funes Mori to Van Aanholt’s left- wing cross and headed inside Howard’s right-hand post. Everton’s response to throwing away a comfortable margin was emphatic. By the hour the visitors had been destroyed. Goodison thought Lukaku had restored Everton’s lead with a diving header from a Deulofeu cross but it was Coates who got the final touch. The Belgium international did score when Deulofeu delivered another touch of creative class, dissecting the Sunderland defence with a superb pass that allowed Lukaku to round Pantilimon and convert.
Koné claimed his second with a composed left-foot finish after Ross Barkley and James McCarthy had led another incisive break and his hat-trick arrived with a header at the near post from a Lukaku cross. Again, no Sunderland defender was alert or close enough as Koné headed beyond Pantilimon at close range. Howard saved well from the substitute Duncan Watmore, Van Aanholt and Defoe late on. But there was no consolation for Allardyce, only a reminder of the task ahead on the day Goodison delivered a tumultuous ovation to the late Howard Kendall and a display the club’s most successful manager would no doubt have approved of.
