Sky Sports pundit shares ‘fantastic’ assessment of Sunderland’s promotion hopes despite Leeds United defeat

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Despite losing to Leeds United on Monday night, Jobi McAnuff believes Sunderland still have plenty to be positive about as they head into the business end of the season.

Everybody had written Sunderland off before the game, with a relentless Leeds United team surely set to take all three points at Elland Road.

However, by half-time, the Black Cats were ahead thanks to a wonderful goal from Wilson Isidor. Something had to give, though, with Leeds dominating throughout, and sadly, Regis Le Bris’ side crumbled in the final 15 minutes.

A brace from substitute Pascal Struijk won the day for Leeds and surely sets them on track for automatic promotion now, but Sunderland shouldn’t give up their dreams just yet.

• READ MORE: Sunderland player ratings vs Leeds United as 9/10 ace shines while three let Regis Le Bris down defensively

Sunderland were ‘fantastic’ against Leeds, but they can’t catch them now

Discussing the action on Sky Sports’ coverage of the game, Jobi McAnuff insisted the Sunderland squad should be proud of the performance they put in against an incredibly strong Leeds side.

He said: “Sometimes you lose a game and, if the performance isn’t what you want, you worry a little bit. But [Sunderland] were fantastic tonight. We were getting ready to talk about how good Sunderland were.”

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LeedsLeeds	33	21	9	3	68	20	48	72
2	Sheff UtdSheffield Utd	33	22	6	5	47	23	24	70
3	BurnleyBurnley	33	17	14	2	39	9	30	65
4	SunderlandSunderland	33	17	11	5	50	30	20	62
5	BlackburnBlackburn	33	15	6	12	39	31	8	51
6	West BromWest Brom	33	11	15	7	42	31	11	48

As for the rest of the season, McAnuff believes the Black Cats will struggle to catch Leeds now, but can still finish strong and secure a good position in the Championship table to set them up for the play-offs at the very least.

He added: “I certainly look at their [fixture] list and think there’s enough [points] there to get themselves going again. Can they catch Leeds? No, I think the gap’s going to be too big. There are so many positives to take… to go to the hardest place in the country and perform like that.”

• READ MORE: Daniel Farke shares ‘dangerous’ Sunderland verdict but insists Leeds United ‘deserved’ their win

Regis Le Bris expects his players to bounce back from Leeds loss

Sunderland fans blamed Le Bris for his tactics in the game, with substitutes coming too late and not having the required impact. Others lambasted his defensive approach to the game which invited pressure onto the Black Cats.

But, the Sunderland manager was in fairly positive spirits post-match, and believes his young side can come through this experience in good shape.

He said: “They will be okay because they’re young. They will recover quickly. It’s just a question of time now. We have a full week to prepare for the next game at home.”

Sunderland have a home game against Hull City coming up at the weekend, and they’ll be looking to maintain their unbeaten home record at the Stadium of Light there.

After that, it’s a tricky trip to Hillsborough to face an unpredictable and inconsistent Sheffield Wednesday side, before another home tie with struggling Cardiff City to start off the month of March.

By then, the top two could be out of sight completely, but it’s crucial that Sunderland keep plugging away and getting results to maintain their own momentum more than anything.