One former Sunderland man has made his views clear about Plymouth Argyle’s second goal at the weekend.
Sunderland were held to a 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light against Plymouth Argyle, where Regis Le Bris’ side fell to a late equaliser.
The performance put on by the Black Cats certainly didn’t warrant or deserve all three points against the most out-of-form Championship side in recent weeks, but they were close to the win before Plymouth popped up with a second goal in the dying seconds.
The second goal in particular has had many Sunderland fans discussing who was to blame after the defensive mishap that unfolded for Plymouth Argyle to score so late on.
One player that has taken the majority of the blame is Anthony Patterson, but a former Sunderland goalkeeping coach disagrees with that assumption.
Former Sunderland goalkeeper coach David Preece defends Anthony Patterson decision-making
The second Plymouth Argyle goal saw some scrappy errors from the Black Cats’ defence across the board, from Luke O’Nein’s unsuccessful headed clearance, the inability of three players rushing towards Darko Gyabi to prevent his headed pass, and the attempted save from Patterson.
It was a catalogue of errors from Le Bris’ side that saw the chance materialise, and that is how former Sunderland goalkeeper coach David Preece viewed the goal.
Taking to X, Preece said after watching the second Plymouth goal: “Not sure why anyone would pin this on him [Patterson] tbh. Doesn’t have time to affect either ball. First ball falls directly to Luke and correct decision to stay for the second as he wouldn’t get there.”
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Anthony Patterson has become scapegoat as defensive mistakes go under radar
For the large majority of the 2024/25 season, Patterson has been a dependable shot-stopper for Le Bris’ side, with the very occasional lapse in decision-making.
However, goals such as the second Plymouth Argyle finish at the weekend often got pinned on Patterson, but ultimately, questions needed to be asked of the defence, who was far and away not good enough in clearing their lines when it mattered.
The Sunderland defence have to take ownership of such a goal, rather than Patterson being the one to blame for just being the last man to stop the shot.