Sunderland endured a horrid time on the South coast as the 10-man Black Cats lost to newly-promoted AFC Bournemouth. Two goals in the opening ten minutes from Callum Wilson and Matt Ritchie put the game beyond the Wearsiders who are still searching for their first win of the season. The linesman in the second half wrongly disallowed a Jeremain Lens header, which may have brought Sunderland back into the game, and a few minutes later Younes Kaboul was sent off for a second booking following a reckless hack at the dangerous Callum Wilson.
With the back 4 changed to the same back four the conceded 7 goals in two games, the first-half began in similar fashion to how the opening two games of Sunderland’s season. Younes Kaboul was turned far too easily by Callum Wilson as he fired past Costel Pantilimon in the Sunderland goal to make it 1-0 to Bournemouth after just 4 minutes. Another 4 minutes later and it was 2-0 to Bournemouth, this time a rocket by Matt Ritchie flew past Pantilimon and into the top left-hand corner.
Bournemouth played some beautiful football and passed it around the non-existent Sunderland midfield with simple passing and movement. Three of the Sunderland back four were booked in the first-half by Kevin Friend, who for once, Sunderland cannot blame for their struggles in the first half. However, despite the Black Cats being totally outclassed, they could have been level, with Jermain Defoe missing two glorious chances for the second week running. The former Tottenham man missed another one-on-one after losing his footing, and a few minutes later headed wide from 6-yards out, although the England international was offside.
Jack Rodwell entered the fray at half-time in place of the poor Jordi Gomez, and the Black Cats started off brighter. The visitors should have had a goal pulled back, but Lens’ header was pathetically ruled out for offside by the linesman following a good ball from M’Vila. The game from that point was out of Sunderland’s hands, with the wind taken out of their sails. Steven Fletcher and Adam Johnson were introduced in place of Defoe and Borini, who both made little impact, but were too unable to influence the game. On 73 minutes Sunderland’s afternoon went from bad to worse, when Younes Kaboul was sent-off for a second bookable offence after Billy Jones gave the ball away cheaply, meaning the Frenchman will now miss the cup tie with Manchester City on Tuesday night.
Match Rating: 4/10
Attendence: 11,271
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