^The electronic advertising hoardings kept urging spectators to “Visit Tanzania” and explore the “world’s biggest game reserve”.
Should Sunderland fans accept this invitation their African hosts need have no fear about tourists from Wearside lacking the patience sometimes needed on safari. Spending interminable hours watching very little happen while hoping against hope for a moment of dramatic wonder has become second nature to followers of Gus Poyet’s team.
Despite the home manager switching to a more attacking 4-4-2 formation – (although being Poyet he compensated by replacing his pacey attacking left back Patrick van Aanholt with the much more defensive minded Anthony Réveillère) – this latest home draw with an equally limited West Bromwich Albion proved entirely emblematic.
It was Sunderland’s eighth 0-0 of a campaign in which they have drawn 14 times. Only two Premier League games have been won at the Stadium of Light where a mere 12 League goals have been scored. Small wonder they persistently occupy the final slot on Match of the Day.
In mitigation this was a much less negative performance than many of late, with Sunderland defending higher up the pitch than usual and taking a few attacking gambles. The downside was the absence of the creativity needed to capitalise on this new spirit of moderate adventure.
Roy Hodgson must certainly have questioned the wisdom of his decision to make a trip to the north-east. The England coach was here to watch West Brom’s Saido Berahino but, after sustaining an early knock, the forward experienced an off day. “Saido’s had better games,” said Tony Pulis, with considerable understatement.
Along with his team-mates, Berahino will have discovered that, for all their flaws, Poyet’s side are hard to beat. “I think we should take positives, me included,” said Sunderland’s manager. “We took risks. We needed a lucky break but it wasn’t to be.”
Noteworthy incidents were strictly rationed. Early on Sunderland appealed, forlornly, for Joleon Lescott to be sent off after the centre-half tugged Danny Graham back as he accelerated into the area. Arguing that it was a denial of a clear-cut scoring opportunity and that Lescott was the last defender, Poyet’s players implored Mike Jones to produce his red card. Instead the referee showed a yellow. “I’ve seen old women on the high street take more of a knock than that and stay on their feet,” said Pulis.
Although both sides produced the odd promising buildup, they were consistently let down by either slapdash or downright unimaginative final balls and the first real goalmouth excitement did not arrive until the end of the first half.
Virtually Ben Foster’s first significant act was to pick the ball out of his net but Adam Johnson’s “goal” was disallowed for a slightly contentious offside. Tellingly, the 45th minute had arrived before the first legitimate shot on target was registered, with Foster diverting Sebastian Larsson’s swerving effort and the second period unravelled in markedly similar manner. Chances from open play were almost nonexistent.
“We played well for 20 minutes,” said Pulis. “Then we really went off the boil, we just fell away – but we defended resolutely. The important thing is that, despite playing as poorly as we did, we’ve still got something from the game.”
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