Regis Le Bris got key Sunderland decision wrong at Plymouth as injuries bite for Boro test

If Sunderland are going to maintain their impressive start to the season then they must remain switched on for the entirety of a match. This is especially prevalent against Middlesbrough on Saturday.

For the first time this season, at Plymouth, when put under pressure, the team’s defensive frailties were exposed. Without Aji Alese, and possibly now Dan Ballard, the club’s defensive resources will be tested further.

Dan Neil’s bland assertion after Plymouth that “it was a game of two halves” might not have been the most insightful of comments from the skipper but we could see where he was coming from. Sunderland did start well but, a goal up after 24 minutes, they seemed to play well within themselves for the remainder of the first half.

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I thought Alan Browne was missed in this respect as, against Portsmouth, he was quick to take the game to the opposition, showed leadership on the ball and was keen to break the lines whereas Neil, back after suspension, is more content to keep the game ticking over with sideways passing.

I didn’t concur with the decision to bring Neil straight back into the team. I thought it sent out the wrong message to Browne who was instrumental in the side winning at Pompey and scored his first goal. The old adage, ‘don’t change a winning team’ came back to bite Le Bris.

Neil was off the pace in Sunderland’s first game, good in the second, got sent off in the third, missed the fourth and was in a team that lost for the first time in his fifth. It now seems as though Browne might miss Saturday’s game through injury so Neil will likely keep his slot.

So far this season Sunderland haven’t had to resort to last-ditch defending. That could not be said of the display against Wayne Rooney’s side as, in the second half, Le Bris’ side sat too deep and didn’t really start playing until Ballard scored his own goal as the hosts drew level.

There is a certain irony that the first two goals conceded this season have come from their own central pairing on the south coast, with Luke O’Nien notching at Portsmouth and then Ballard in Devon. For Plymouth’s first goal, Trai Hume, so influential in attack, was caught chasing back and the delivery from the left into the box was too easy.

But at least when the Black Cats conceded they looked to try and attack again and the superb Romaine Mundle was the catalyst, driving Sunderland forward down the left with some scintillating runs.

Hume was tormented by Ibrahim Cissoko down his side and Plymouth’s second goal was an example of why Sunderland lost the game as the hosts went 2-1 up. Once again, Hume was unable to stop Cissoko going past him and didn’t even manage to raise his boot in an effort to shut down the cross from the byeline. Ballard was then culpable as he went to clear the ball, completely miskicked, and then tried to atone for his own error by barging into Hardie.

Fair play to the visitors, they did battle back into the game and it was no surprise that Mundle conjured up a piece of Clarke-esque magic to equalise at 2-2, before Anthony Patterson’s error for Plymouth’s winner. These fine margins are what cost Sunderland on the day.

For all their attacking play and willingness to get forward, they are prone to one or two weaknesses at the back and you have to say that last week, Plymouth exposed them.

Just how they will deal with the threat of Michael Carrick’s Boro will be interesting. Especially as Le Bris is likely to be forced into at least one change.