The away end went from sheer jubilation to jaw-dropping dejection in the space of ten miserable minutes. One moment we’re bouncing after Thiago’s thunderous header, the next we’re trudging out of the Stadium of Light wondering how on earth we let it slip… again.
Thiago had done the hard bit. On 77 minutes, after slick passing through midfield, Onyeka lofted in a peach of a ball and Thiago absolutely buried it – a header off the underside of the bar that had limbs flying. That’s what we travelled 300 miles for.
Seconds later, Rico Henry got in a tangle at a corner, dragged Diarra down and Anthony Taylor gleefully pointed to the spot. Le Fée rolled it past Kelleher. 1-1. Momentum gone, belief punctured.
And of course, we couldn’t even hang on for a point. Sixth minute of added time, Xhaka whips in a first-time cross, Isidor ghosts between our defenders and nods past Kelleher who looked like he could have done so much better with his attempted save. Game over. Sunderland go bonkers. Brentford fans staring into space. We’ve seen this too often.
And it’s infuriating because we had chances. VAR ruled out Ouattara’s first-half strike by a toenail. Schade fluffed his penalty – a weak effort saved by Roefs – but why on Earth was he taking it ain the first place? Then Thiago’s ruled-in beauty looked to have nicked it… only for us to unravel. Fine margins, yes, but also sloppy game management.
Positives? Thiago’s already on three goals. We’re still not in the bottom three. Defence is mostly holding up. But let’s be honest – our style is flat, the frontline and midfield aren’t clicking, Kelleher doesn’t exactly ooze calm, and the Wissa situation is costing us the use of a genuine goal threat that Schade doesn’t seem to be regularly enough.
It’s beyond frustrating. Tuesday night at Bournemouth felt upbeat, then we serve up this regression with supposedly a stronger side. The international break and transfer window now feel crucial – this squad needs tweaks and a reset before a brutal set of fixtures buries us deeper.
Dave Lane
