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Club Focus - Sunderland - Black Cats frustrated to only draw against Manchester United.
In a considerable turn around of events from, say, two seasons ago, the Black Cats gained a point from the visit of Manchester United, but were disappointed not to come away with all three. The North East side had the better of the game at the Stadium of Light and better finishing would have seen them come away with the spoils.
A burst water pipe in the away team dressing room at the Stadium of Light meant that the kick off time had to be delayed by twenty minutes. Sir Alex Ferguson decided to rest Dimitar Berbatov and fielded a notably under strength team with Federico Macheda and Michael Owen up front. Once underway, Sunderland were by far the better team in the first half, spurning a couple of excellent chances to score. By far the best chance of the afternoon fell to Steed Malbranque after some excellent build up play from Darren Bent and Bolo Zenden. The veteran midfielder found himself through on goal after an excellent first touch sent him passed two defenders. However, Edwin Van der Sar pulled off an impressive save to deny him. Other chances fell the Wearsider’s way, but they could not capitalize and in the end had to make do with a draw.
A point against any United side should not be sniffed at and this was the first time Sunderland had managed this at home in the league against the Manchester club since 2002. After the game Steve Bruce claimed he was happy to have earned another point, but could not help hinting at what might have been: “The performance was terrific I couldn’t have been more pleased with it. That’s eight points we’ve now taken from the top teams. On another day we might have got more, but I’m really pleased with the result and of course the performance.” Bolo Zenden, who started his first game of the season with Danny Welbeck ineligible to play, echoed his manager’s sentiments, claiming he was frustrated not to have won the game saying: “It is disappointing not to have won the game. But these types of games are special. These are the ones that we play football for and our performance today has shown what we are capable of” he told the club’s website.
Some have wondered why Bruce opted to deploy a 4-5-1 formation only to bemoan his side’s inability to get a winner later in the game. This shows an acute lack of understanding of how well the side have been playing this season and why they have only lost one league game so far. Sunderland are now a lot harder to beat and despite playing one striker, all the midfielders, with the exception of Lee Cattermole, are capable of getting forward in support of the front man. Curiously however, the club’s record signing, Asamoah Gyan, started on the bench again, and if the Black Cats are to continue with one up front, Bruce will face the quandary of whether to go back to 4-4-2, or pull Darren Bent, who has already netted five goals this campaign, back into midfield.
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