A journalist was left absolutely baffled by a ‘dreadful’ moment during Sunderland’s defeat to Huddersfield Town.
Phil Smith of Sunderland Echo slammed the Black Cats’ defending after they fell behind for the second time at the Stadium of Light this evening.
It felt like deja vu for Sunderland as they dominated possession, only to find themselves 1-0 down in the first half.
Tony Mowbray‘s side did start the second 45 minutes much more promisingly though as they pushed for an equaliser, with Jack Clarke finally beginning to force his way into the game as a major threat on the left.
However, Sunderland conceded yet another goal against the run of play, as Jobe Bellingham‘s slide tackle unfortunately landed at the feet of Delano Burgzorg.
Sunderland’s defence stood still as they allowed him to coolly slot the ball past Anthony Patterson, gifting them all three points in a rather lucky evening away from Yorkshire.
Phil Smith called the Black Cats’ defending ‘dreadful’, writing on his X account: “That is dreadful. Big challenge on the edge of the area – and yet somehow no one closes Burgzorg down. Rifles it into bottom corner. So, so poor.”
The hosts continued to dominate the game, but never really looked like threatening and failed to bounce back from their second goal.
Tony Mowbray’s men have now endured back-to-back defeats and have taken their unwanted tally up to eight losses in 18 games this season – only five less than the entirety of the previous campaign.
What happens now?
While we are all fully aware of the team’s major issue at the top of the pitch, the defence has hardly been covering themselves in glory either.
It happens way too often where we spend a majority of the game in their half, trying to break them down, before we found themselves behind to a set piece or just some rotten defending.
It’s difficult to see what we can actually do to sort our troubles out at the back, but the return of Aji Alese and Dennis Cirkin certainly can’t come soon enough.
Tony Mowbray needs to sort this mess out right now, because my hopes of play-offs are gradually falling away.