Sunderland Outplayed And Outfought By West Ham

After playing fantastically well against Arsenal at the weekend I thought Tuesday’s league cup game against West Ham was going to be a routine home win. But then again, this is Sunderland so I don’t know why I was feeling so confident going into this one.

West Ham were in charge for most of the first half and deservedly took the lead in the 35th minute from a Piquionne strike. Sunderland seemed to wake up after the goal and piled on the pressure, resulting in a quick equaliser. Gyan dispatched a Jordan Henderson corner in the 41st minute.

West Ham continued to dominate the game in the second half and at one stage put together a string of what seemed to be several hundred passes without Sunderland coming even close to sniffing the ball. At this stage we would have been better off sneaking our midfield off the park for a quick breather and replacing them with a set of police cones.

Riveros was knacked.

Henderson was chasing shadows and Wellbeck looked as though he’d accidentally wandered onto the pitch after going out for a late night stroll.

West Ham were taking the mick on the pitch and their fans responded with the standard ole’s. Fair play to the West Ham fans, they brought a few hundred up..ok some will have been based in the area but still, it was a Tuesday and they haven’t had the best of starts to a season. However, after seeing them the other night they look a lot stronger than I expected them to be and certainly better than their league standing suggests.

Barrera and Parker looked very good. Parker was ruling the midfield and Barrera had a classy game, attacking with skill and pace. When Obinna scored West Ham’s second goal of the game to put them 2-1 up, I just couldn’t see us getting back into it.

We were lethargic. Too many of our players were uninterested and we were struggling to create opportunities in the final third. Elmo’s crossing in particular was inaccurate and unintelligent. His long balls weren’t working so you’d think he’d review what he was doing and mix it up a little but nothing changed and he continued to smash the ball over the heads of Gyan and Bent at every time of asking.

Sunderland had opportunities to level near to the end of the game. The best chance falling to Malbranque after being fed a ball by Wellbeck but Steed took it slightly wide making it easy for the keeper to save. I think Wellbeck would have been better off taking it on himself but he wasn’t at the races on Tuesday and will have to pick himself up for an important game on Saturday. Much like the rest of them.

The best side won. We move on.