Talking Points: Sunderland salvage a draw after a one-two punch from Watford

09/02/2025 07:00

Dennis Cirkin's late equaliser preserved our unbeaten home record for 2024/2025, but a poor performance from the Lads was concerning. Phil West looks at the game's main stories

A point salvaged, but an underwhelming outcome

After the euphoria of Monday night's trip to Middlesbrough and our thrilling 2-3 victory, consecutive home games against a solid if unspectacular Watford and a Luton team fighting for their Championship lives felt like an excellent opportunity for the Lads to bank six vital points ahead of the trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United.

However, this was yet another occasion on which things didn't work out as planned, as we came perilously close to losing our unbeaten home record before Dennis Cirkin bailed us out with a scrambled late goal when it looked as though the game was drifting away from us.

Frankly, the loss wouldn't have been unjustified as a rugged, abrasive and powerful Hornets' side edged into a 1-2 lead thanks to a penalty from Tom Dele-Bashiru and a stunning strike from the boot of Imran Louza — this coming after we gave the Watford attacker far too much time and space to line up his shot before he curled it beyond the reach of Anthony Patterson.

We'd actually taken the lead early in the first half when Luke O'Nien was on hand to head home from close range, but as has become habitual, we failed to kick on, turned in an extremely ropey (and at times woefully disjointed) performance and were forced to flirt with disaster before Cirkin came to the rescue, with some glaring misses of our own adding insult to injury.

A point gained, yes, but it's hard to escape the feeling that we're increasingly in need of snookers and slip ups elsewhere in the race for automatic promotion. It's still doable but my goodness, we're having to dig extremely deep to keep ourselves in the hunt.

Take the lead > sit back > pay the price. Repeat to fade

During their 1989 heavyweight title clash in Las Vegas, Frank Bruno rocked the previously infallible Mike Tyson with a firm early shot but subsequently failed to cash in as the defending champion roared back to eventually seal the win.

A different sport, granted, but the principal of taking advantage when you have your opponent in a tricky position is applicable in football as well, and once again, we didn't do that here as O'Nien's opener failed to provide the spark we needed to kick on.

After taking the lead, we seemed to retreat into our shells, seemingly content to concede the bulk of possession to the visitors, and with the classy Giorgi Chakvetadze pulling the strings for Watford, the remainder of the first half was a nervy affair and the penalty conceded by Cirkin was wholly avoidable.

From then on, things became increasingly frantic and although we arguably showed more attacking threat in the second half, we rarely felt in control (the absence of Jobe undoubtedly played a part here) and I do think there are questions to be asked about our game management.

At home, we should always seek to dictate the terms of the game but in two successive fixtures, we've looked edgy and often unsure of ourselves. Some may blame Régis Le Bris for this and others may point the finger at the players, but it's an issue that needs to be rectified.

We have a wealth of talent on hand and there's no excuse for performing so timidly in our own backyard.

Jobe's absence proves key

This is not a dig at Salis Abdul Samed, who did exactly what was asked of him and did it reasonably well, but the absence of Dan Neil's foil and one of our key players in Jobe was costly for Sunderland on Saturday, and we can only hope that the ankle injury that ruled him out doesn't prevent him from slotting back into the engine room against Luton in midweek.

What we get with Bellingham is drive, the ability to turn on a sixpence and evade his man before picking key passes or progressing the ball up the pitch, and the confidence to play what's around or in front of him regardless of how frenetic things may be.

Samed is clearly a very capable footballer and his introduction against Middlesbrough proved key as we took the sting out of the game before eventually finding a winner, but I do believe that at home, a little less grunt and a touch more subtlety and guile is needed from our midfield — something the Jobe/Neil axis gives us in spades.

Is the relentless grind of a promotion race taking its toll?

It's been well documented that Sunderland's squad is stacked in certain areas but glaringly short in others, and as we gear ourselves up for what could be frantic dash to the finishing line, some of the Lads don't seem to be playing with the same verve and vigour as they were earlier in the season.

The likes of Chris Rigg, Dennis Cirkin and Trai Hume looked somewhat jaded for large periods on Saturday, and as Le Bris sought to affect change via the use of his substitutes, it was also peculiar to see Eliezer Mayenda kept on the bench until very late in the game — especially given his form and effectiveness in recent weeks.

Squad management during a promotion race is key, and although Le Bris has made some successful calls, he's not got it right all the time and it goes without saying that the wider squad must be utilised fully if we're to maintain our push for the top two.

And finally…

Pre-match, it was a real shame to see the giant Sky Bet flag that covered the centre circle folded up and stretchered off before the teams walked out.

Hopefully it's not a serious injury and the flag will be back in action soon — probably in around six to eight weeks, in Sunderland time.