Sunderland’s players showed sufficient spirit to be individually high-fived by Dick Advocaat as they trudged off against a soundtrack of mild applause but it would be an exaggeration to suggest a corner has been turned.
Although real encouragement was contained in promising individual performances on the part of the recent signings Jeremain Lens and Yann M’Vila, not to mention Jermain Defoe’s fine equaliser, there is a caveat. Sunderland only ended up with a point – their first of the season – and the way in which they were forced to strain every sinew to achieve it, hints at a long relegation struggle ahead.
Seeing as Advocaat’s team are unlikely to be able to conjure similar foot-flat-to-the-floor performances on a weekly basis, the Championship surely beckons unless the squad is further reinforced within the coming week.
Admittedly Sunderland could conceivably have won had they been awarded a penalty after Jack Rodwell’s shot appeared to strike Ashley Williams’s arm but, at the other end, Pantilimon ran through a repertoire of stunning saves, perhaps the most notable repelling a Bafétimbi Gomis header.
Playing slightly within themselves, Swansea were not quite the vibrant ensemble who rocked José Mourinho’s world a couple of weeks ago, leaving Garry Monk torn between disappointment and a certain relief.
After Sunderland’s comprehensive surrenders against Leicester and Norwich this represented a potential tripwire for his side. With a crowd of close on 40,000 giving Advocaat’s team the benefit of the doubt, Monk’s players swiftly realised they were in a game.
“We knew there’d be a reaction from Sunderland but the crowd were incredible, they inspired them,” he said. “Towards the end of the first half we got control, we scored the goal and then in the second half we were so dominant, we created chance after chance. If it hadn’t been for some unbelievable goalkeeping from Costel Pantilimon, and one individual mistake, we’d have won.”
Advocaat did not demur. “It’s a much better feeling, I’m very happy with the team,” he said. “But it took a lot of energy, you could see Swansea has a little bit the better players. Swansea are a very good side but you could see our spirit will get results. And it was a penalty.”
Monk’s side broke the impasse on the brink of half time. Kyle Naughton’s slick pass played in Gomis who held off Sebastián Coates before defying Pantilimon courtesy of a low, angled, right-foot shot from 12 yards.
Until then, Patrick van Aanholt, a liability at left back in Sunderland’s previous two games, had been much improved but, by allowing himself to be distracted by André Ayew he consequently afforded Naughton ample room to advance. As the right back celebrated Gomis’s third goal in as many games Van Aanholt, Coates and company stared fixedly at the ground.
It had been a rare concentration lapse on a day when – Lens and M’Vila excepted – Sunderland’s penchant for making blindingly obvious passes invariably lapped up by Swansea’s defence was offset by some radically upgraded defending.
If Coates again lived dangerously when he felled Jefferson Montero right on the edge of the penalty area at the outset of the second half, John O’Shea’s restoration to central defence in the place of the injured Younès Kaboul afforded the Wearsiders increased stability and organisation.
After his demolition of Chelsea’s and then Newcastle United’s defence in the past couple of weeks, Montero seemed a little jaded, although much of the credit for his subdued state should go to Billy Jones, the home right back.
Like Montero, Defoe had been a bit quiet in his less-than-preferred wide role in Advocaat’s front three but cutting in, he read Lens’s through pass to perfection before evading Lukasz Fabianski with a perfectly weighted low, right-foot shot dispatched into the bottom corner.
That equaliser came at the end of a counterattack initiated by the uber-industrious Danny Graham and faciliated by Federico Fernández’s untypical error. Driven on by a furious Jack Cork, Swansea responded by creating chance after chance. Time after time, though, Pantilimon thwarted them.
“After the criticism they’d had this week Sunderland were never going to roll over,” said Monk. “The crowd inspired them to fight and, as you saw by the fouls they gave away, they fought quite hard.”
