Still winless so far this season for Sunderland despite a positive display against Tottenham Hotspur this afternoon. Many good points to take out of today’s after remaining goalless for the majority of the game, only for Ryan Mason to spoil the fun. Here is what we learnt today.
Toivonen can play!
From a personal perspective, I hadn’t even heard of Toivonen when he signed on a season-long loan from French club Rennes. With Toivonen only playing the second half against Aston Villa in the 2-2 draw two weeks ago, there was still a fair bit unknown about the Attacking midfielder. In that game, he looked comfortable on the ball and played some good passes. Today he was very similar, being big and strong in winning his battles and being very good on the ball. Having already stated that he would be happy to stay after his loan spell, many Sunderland fans will be hoping he sticks to his word.
Kaboul the closet Winger
A renowned Premier League player in Kaboul came up against his former side Tottenham for the first time since his £4-million move. After a poor start to the season when paired up with Sebastian Coates, especially in the 4-2 defeat against Leicester, Kaboul is getting back into the game. A very solid defensive display today, keeping the game goalless for 80 minutes of the game. But more importantly was Kaboul’s attacking play. Kaboul managed to beat Kyle Walker for pace, before taking him on with a few step overs, then gaining Sunderland a corner in the second half. This wasn’t the only time that Kaboul found himself on the wing with the ball at his feet either, with the central defender again showing good attacking play. A solid defender, with good forward play is exactly the kind of player Sunderland have needed for the last few seasons.
Strong front 4
Sunderland starting the game with Defoe in the central striker role, with Borini and Lens either side of him and Toivonen behind. Straight from the off it seemed to be working, with the forward 3 in particular switching roles often. With Toivonen’s excellence on the ball, it allowed the front 3, Defoe in particular, to make defence-splitting runs often, which nearly paid off a couple of times. As well as making runs though, Lens and Borini on either side are more than happy to come deeper in order to get the ball at their feet, allowing Defoe to stay on the last man the majority of the time. Defoe should have scored after running on to a perfect through ball from Jeremain Lens, but scuffed his shot onto the bottom of the post. Again Defoe ran onto a through ball and had a debatable penalty turned down.
Gomez’ return
Gomez was a key player throughout the entirety of last season scoring 4 goals, most notably the two penalty goals that secured a 2-1 home victory against a strong Southampton side. After being out injured for the entire summer, Gomez managed to play the full 90 minutes twice as the U21’s side played against Tottenham last Saturday, and Manchester City in the week. In typical Gomez fashion, he slowed the game down when it was getting heated and on the verge of being out of control. In addition, his backing up of van Aanholt while defending was key, considering the full backs sloppy start to the season. Hopefully Gomez can continue his good return from a knee injury and support M’Vila and van Aanholt can help the side get their first win of the season, sooner rather than later.
