One moment in Sunderland’s defeat to Stoke City has been ridiculed following the Black Cats’ FA Cup exit.
Sunderland lost to the Potters in the FA Cup, a second defeat handed to them by Stoke City in the last two weeks.
The silver lining of the game saw Milan Aleksic bag his first goal in red & white, whilst some of the Black Cats’ top prospects were given game time by Regis Le Bris.
Harrison Jones, for example, put in an assured performance in the centre-of-the-park, showing no signs of weakness against a Championship side.
Trey Ogunsuyi also came on for his first-team debut for Sunderland, and whilst only being handed very limited time, looked promising in his short cameo.
Aside from the youngsters, it was actually the experienced heads in the side that weren’t quite up to scratch, and there was one notable moment in the game that highlights that.
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Sunderland journalist Michael Graham slams mix-up involving Dan Neil and Luke O’Nien
The Black Cats’ exit from the FA Cup came at the mercy of two very poor goals to concede, with the first coming from a penalty.
In the lead up to the penalty being awarded to the Potters, there was a series of play that was incredibly uncharacteristic from Le Bris’ side as Dan Neil cannoned the ball back to Simon Moore, and one Luke O’Nien received the ball, he was dispossessed and then gave away the foul.
It was a calamity of errors from the Sunderland players, and Michael Graham, via X, has had his say on the mistake, where he said: “Three stupid decisions in a row from the three most experienced players on the team sheet. Baffling.”
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Regis Le Bris must ensure that complacency doesn’t creep into side
Both of the goals that Sunderland conceded against the Potters didn’t reflect well on Le Bris’ side in a positive light, and it was evident that the Black Cats were by no means at their best in the game.
Whilst some, and potentially Le Bris will see the silver lining of the fact that the mistakes occurred in the FA Cup, something that isn’t at the top of Sunderland’s list of priorities due to their current promotion push, the French boss will need to ensure that this doesn’t lead to complacency from the more experienced heads in the side.
Issues surrounding the complacency was ultimately their achilles heel in the latter stages of the 2023/24 season, especially due to the fact that they didn’t have a top manager to galvanise the side and get them going. Le Bris must ensure that he tells it exactly how it is, and how the three most experienced players in the side shouldn’t be showing such a lapse in judgement that in hindsight contributed to Sunderland’s exit from the cup.