Narrow defeat in the north east

Roberto de Zerbi’s first game in charge ended in defeat at Sunderland on Sunday afternoon as we fell to a seventh loss in eight league games.

Appointed two weeks ago following the departure of Igor Tudor, the Italian was unable to change our immediate fortunes as he made his debut as our Head Coach, seeing his new side go down to a narrow 1-0 reverse thanks to a heavily deflected goal from Nordi Mukiele just after the hour mark.

The results means we end the weekend in the relegation zone with six matches to play, with De Zerbi’s first home game coming next weekend against his former side Brighton.

We’d started the match in the bottom three after West Ham’s win over Wolves on Friday night and made a bright start. With just two minutes gone, Lucas Bergvall just couldn’t quite get on the end of Dominic Solanke’s cut-back before Pedro Porro’s effort was gathered safely by Robin Roefs. A few minutes later, Randal Kolo Muani led a breakaway which ended with a weak Richarlison shot.

At the other end, Antonin Kinsky had to be alert to tip over Granit Xhaka’s in-swinging corner while, in the 19th minute, a patient build-up from the Black Cats almost yielded a goal but Brian Brobbey headed over from close range.

We almost had our first penalty of the season in the 21st minute, Kolo Muani going down under a challenge from Omar Alderete with referee Rob Jones initially pointing to the spot. However, he was advised by the VAR to carry out a pitchside review and upon doing so, reversed his decision, announcing that Alderete got a touch on the ball first.

Half chances were coming at both ends in what was a fairly open game, Solanke just unable to get on the end of a Richarlison header before Mukiele should have done better at the back post from a Xhaka free-kick while the former Arsenal midfielder was a whisker wide with a 20-yard drive.

As the first period moved into five minutes of stoppage time, both sides had big chances to take the lead. First, Kinsky made an excellent save to maintain parity, quickly off his line to deny Brobbey after a Xhaka free-kick was flicked into his path, while Solanke’s eyes lit up when a clearance fell to him inside the six-yard box but Roefs kept out his angled drive and we went in goalless at the break.

The early stages of the second half lacked the opportunities of the first and it wasn’t until the hour mark before anyone had a genuine sight of goal – and it fell our way, an excellent move from back to front, but Richarlison’s effort at the end of it was easy for Roefs.

Just seconds later though, Sunderland took the lead, as Mukiele was allowed to move in-field off the right flank and let fly with a left foot shot the flicked off Micky van de Ven, wrong-footed Kinsky and the ball bounced into the far corner of the net. There was a lengthy delay to the game following a horrible collision between Cristian Romero and Kinsky, our skipper leaving the field in tears to be replaced by Kevin Danso while Kinsky was able to continue beat with a bandage to his head.

As we moved into the final 15 minutes of normal time, Solanke’s header from a Mathys Tel delivery was comfortably saved by Roefs before van de Ven made a superb block to prevent Chris Rigg’s shot from troubling Kinsky. There were 11 minutes added on at the end of the game and Pedro Porro’s in-swinging corner had to be tipped over by Roefs as we mounted some late pressure. And Porro was involved again in the 97th minute, a first-time strike from the edge of the box which Roefs again tipped over, but that was our final chance as we suffered defeat again, leaving us without a win in 14 league games.

Match data

Goal: Sunderland – Mukiele 61.

Yellow cards: Sunderland – Brobbey, Rigg, Hume; Spurs – Romero, van de Ven, Pedro Porro.

Referee: Rob Jones.

Venue: Stadium of Light.

Weather: Sunny intervals, fresh breeze, 12 degrees.

Attendance: 47,010.