Sunderland were beaten 2-0 by Preston North End on Tuesday night.
Sunderland have been knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the first hurdle, losing 2-0 v Preston North End at Deepdale.
Managerless Preston outclassed a Sunderland side that was completely changed from the 2-0 win vs Cardiff City on the opening day of the 2024/25 Championship season.
Regis Le Bris handed starting spots to several lesser-seen faces with Nazariy Rusyn leading the line but failing to make an impact, and with Abdoullah Ba failing to impress too.
The defence was what struggled the most vs Preston with Le Bris naming four centre-backs across the back-four, starting youngsters Zak Johnson and Joe Anderson on the right and left respectively, then Leo Hjelde and Nectarios Triantis in the middle.
Whenever Preston got forward, Sunderland looked shaky at the back.
There were some good performances, however, with Chris Rigg earning praise along with the likes of Simon Moore and Pierre Ekwah.
But it was the poor individual performances that stood out, with none struggling perhaps as much as Anderson.
Joe Anderson struggles during Sunderland Carabao Cup defeat vs Preston North End
Anderson, 23, spent time with both Liverpool and Everton as a youngster, joining Sunderland in January 2023 but spending time out on loan with Shrewsbury Town last time round.
He made 30 total appearances for the Shrews last season, making his first Sunderland appearance of the season vs Preston.
But starting in an unnatural left-back position, Anderson recorded six defensive actions (three clearances, two interceptions, and one block), failing to record a single tackle and being dribbled past twice (more than any other Sunderland player).
Anderson did see plenty of the ball, having 87 touches, but he recorded the joint second-lowest pass accuracy (75%) of any Sunderland player, misplacing 15 passes.
Journalist James Copley described Anderson as ‘very poor’ on the night.
Kristjaan Speakman has to be ruthless at Sunderland
Anderson, at 23, is slightly over the average first-team squad age (22.8 years), and with less than 40 first-team appearances in his career, he’s very inexperienced for his age.
And that showed on Tuesday night with Anderson beaten way too easily, albeit playing in an unfamiliar position.
With Triantis having returned this summer, and the likes of Johnson also breaking through, there’ll very little game time available for Anderson this season, and so a summer exit could be his best option.
And after seeing how poorly he performed on Tuesday, sporting director Kristjaan Speakman may fancy clearing Anderson off the wage bill altogether, and freeing up space for another youngster to come in and impress.
Sunderland need to be ruthless with their youngsters if the want to keep the competition fresh.