Sunderland will fly to New York and a week’s “bonding break” featuring daily runs in snowy Central Park thoroughly chastened by Manolo Gabbiadini and his Southampton team-mates. On a day when Claude Puel’s side remembered how to concentrate, two goals from the Italy striker along with some splendid support from Dusan Tadic not only ended the visitors’ recent wretched run of results but also ensured David Moyes’s team remain firmly bottom.
“Sometimes when there’s expectations on us to win we can’t handle it,” Sunderland’s manager said. “We’re very disappointed. This was a big opportunity to get out of the bottom three and for the first 25 minutes we played as well as we’ve done all season.”
The other 65 were less impressive, destroying what before the match looked a perfect moment for Moyes’s players to entertain Southampton. Quite apart from Sunderland being fresh from a 4-0 win at Crystal Palace, Puel’s team were supposedly distracted by their impending League cup final against Manchester United - or that was the theory at least.
They arrived having lost six of their past seven league games and apparently in the throes of a central defensive “crisis” occasioned by José Fonte’s transfer to West Ham, Virgil van Dijk’s untimely ankle injury and the novice Jack Stephen’s elevation to first-team duties.
Identifying lack of “focus” as the principal problem, Puel refused to buy it and demanded his team started showing some strength of character. Stephens, particularly, rose to the challenge. “It was good,” said Southampton’s beaming manager. “And Gabbiadini showed his quality. He plays between the lines and gives us a very good technical solution.”
Even so, the conditions – icy, driving rain, capriciously swirling wind and freezing temperatures – were not for the faint-hearted, and his players took their time to fathom how to deconstruct Sunderland’s back three.
Accordingly with Didier Ndong initially dynamic and Darron Gibson showing off some elegantly incisive passes on his home debut, Sunderland began brightly. Adnan Januzaj cued up Jermain Defoe for a presentable shooting chance but the former England striker – distracted by Maya Yoshida’s attentions – was let down by an uncharacteristically poor first touch and it drifted wide.
Shortly afterwards Sunderland regressed to bad habits and created Southampton’s first chance when, played into trouble by Billy Jones, Gibson panicked and passed straight to Gabbiadini. The former Napoli striker screwed that shot wide but his subsequent wily movement, rapid changes of pace, springing of the offside trap and slick combinations with Tadic should have reminded Moyes’s defence that they ignored him at their peril.
Despite this warning, they had no answer to Ryan Bertrand’s advance from left-back and perfectly whipped in cross, which preceded the Italian’s second goal in as many games. It was met by a combination of Lamine Koné and Gabbiadini, with the pair attempting diving headers but the defender missing and the ball going in off the forward’s upper arm. “That shouldn’t have been given,” said Moyes, somewhat contentiously.
Before half-time, Gabbiadini scored again, his latest goal created by a smart pass from the increasingly influential Tadic. All that remained was for Puel’s latest piece of transfer-market inspiration to thoroughly wrong-foot Koné and John O’Shea by swivelling sharply and shooting low past Vito Mannone.
By now a study in misery, Moyes reverted to a back four, but not much changed. Instead Jason Denayer was arguably fortunate not to concede a penalty after sending Tadic – who would later force a fine save from Mannone – crashing in the area.
It spoke volumes that Fraser Forster was not required to make a serious save until the 67th minute when he kept Ndong’s awkwardly bouncing 25-yard shot out. Almost immediately, Mannone did well to tip a header from Shane Long, on for Gabbiadini, over his bar after the disappointing Koné’s focus slipped once more.
When, in the 88th minute, Ryan Bertrand escaped from Wahbi Khazri and crossed low, Long looked set to score but, instead, the ball was turned into his own net by Denayer. Refusing to be thwarted, Long compensated by side-footing James Ward-Prowse’s 90th minute pass home. Sunderland’s flight to New York will be very quiet.
