“Not good enough,” was how a depressed-sounding Wayne Rooney summed things up. It was by far his most accurate contribution to the afternoon.
Sunderland attacking stats
For a side with pretensions to a top four finish, things could not have begun more dismally for United. With no more than two minutes elapsed, Matteo Darmian, who was not to enjoy the most productive of lunchtimes, brought down Patrick Van Aanholt in the no-man’s land to the left of the visitors’ defence. After awarding a free-kick, the referee, Andre Marriner, did not appear to notice that Wahbi Khazri advanced the ball a good few yards from where the offence was committed. But still he seemed too distant to cause problems. However, when Jermain Defoe stepped over the ball on the edge of the area, failing in the attempt to back-heel it on its way, his kick went past everyone into the far side of the goal.
It took them a while to wake up, but United eventually responded, seizing possession and keeping it. Anthony Martial fired across the area, almost reaching Rooney; Juan Mata played a brilliant ball in behind the home defence for Darmian, who failed to cross; Rooney then got the ball caught under his feet when advancing on goal.
Man Utd attacking stats
But for all United’s growing domination of possession, when Mata shot from distance on 29 minutes into the chest of Vito Mannone, it was their first effort on target.
Sunderland, meanwhile, had a vigorous claim for a penalty turned down after a Khazri shot hit Morgan Schneiderlin on the trailing arm.
After half an hour, the very definition of the hospital pass by Jesse Lingard led to Darmian receiving lengthy treatment following a collision with Khazri. After he went off clutching a dislocated shoulder (“this is now a club without fullbacks,” lamented Van Gaal), the appropriately named Martin Love came on for a Valentine’s Eve debut. It was quite an elevation, as this was the first time the Rochdale-born full-back had been in the match day squad.
On 38 minutes Martial, yet again United’s standout player, dribbled in from the left, his inside pass finding its way to Mata. The Spaniard fizzed a low, bouncing shot goalwards, Mannone dived to save, but Martial was first to the rebound, chipping the ball deftly into the corner of the net.
But if Van Gaal thought that would signal control of the game, Allardyce had other ideas. He instructed his players at half time to target United’s rookie fullbacks, telling them to play the ball out wide at every opportunity.
Moments after halftime, Sunderland had another shout for a penalty. From a corner, John O’Shea stepped in front of Rooney and flicked the ball on. As if surprised by its sudden change in direction, the United captain put his hand in front of his face and the ball struck it. While the crowd yelled their insistence on a spot kick, Marriner was unmoved.
Sensing they would get nothing from officialdom, a couple of minutes later Sunderland went direct for goal. Starting from out wide as instructed, Van Aanholt crossed, Defoe subtly flicked the ball goalwards, catching David De Gea off guard. But Daley Blind slid in to affect a last second intervention as the ball seemed destined to hit the net.
But he was less fastidious at the moment that mattered. On 82 minutes the excellent newcomer Khazri took a corner. As the ball swung in, the other new arrival, the centre back Lamine Kone, evaded all his markers and headed with some ferocity down past De Gea and Martial, getting in each other’s way on the line. Against a side organised by Allardyce, to lose two goals to set pieces seemed particularly hapless.
Though United tried to come back – a sharp curled shot from the substitute Memphis Depay was well saved by Mannone, then they had their own claims for a penalty when Depay’s shot hit the retreating O’Shea, apparently on the elbow – Sunderland held on. And the celebrations at the end, the players linking hands to dash towards the glowing grandstand, suggested quite how important these three points might well turn out to be.
After this, Sunderland chances of remaining closely involved in the Premier League are somewhat better than Louis Van Gaal’s.
- Telegraph