Black Cats struggle to find a breakthrough again

GUS POYET never wanted Sunderland to play in between Christmas and New Year and he must be left wondering why they bothered after another frustrating afternoon at Villa Park.

Predictions of a goalless draw could easily have been made beforehand and that was exactly what happened when two of the Premier League’s most profligate teams met each other.

Poyet and his counterpart Paul Lambert might as well have agreed to such an outcome before a ball had been kicked; the latter would have preferred it because he lost key midfielder Fabian Delph to a straight red card four minutes in to the second half for a late tackle on Jordi Gomez.

Despite facing ten-men for the remaining 40 minutes, however, Sunderland’s goalscoring problems continued to be apparent as they stuttered to a sixth goalless draw of the season and a sixth draw from their last nine matches.

And given the fact that Villa, with just 11 goals to their name in the league this season, can’t score either, Sunderland had to make do with returning to the North-East with a point - even if Gomez hit the post late on and Villa threatened a last-gasp winner of their own.

With the January transfer window set to open for business on Thursday, it will be hoped that Poyet and sporting director Lee Congerton already have the solutions waiting to come in.

After the frustrations of Boxing Day and the complaints about referee Andre Marriner’s part in it, Poyet was desperate for a reaction but was in danger of giving his players an excuse to lose before the first whistle had been blow in Birmingham.

Poyet said: “I know that Boxing Day games are a tradition and I accept that and think we should maintain it. But I think that then playing on the 28th is a disgrace. We shouldn’t be playing then, we shouldn’t.”

It was with that in mind – as well as the ineptitude of the performance against Hull – that he freshened things up with three changes. Connor Wickham returned from suspension on the left instead of Ricky Alvarez and he was heavily involved.

As well as a few nice touches, he went close to scoring with a decent curled effort from the left which dropped the wrong side of the upright inside 20 minutes. Before that both sides had their early moments.

The best looked like ending in a goal for Aston Villa when Alan Hutton rolled a pass inside for Andreas Weimann after the defender had been picked out in space on the right. Weimann turned inside the box but, as he shaped to shoot, John O’Shea charged across to make a brilliant tackle.

O’Shea, who had Wes Brown back alongside him at the expense of Sebastien Coates, was particularly composed at the back, and regularly thwarted balls in to the area. Further forward, though, there was once again a lack of threat on goal.

Sunderland’s fluency was not helped by the early change to the way the team had prepared for the game. Liam Bridcutt, who had started brightly on his return to the side, had to be replaced by Lee Cattermole when he felt the full force of Christian Benteke’s knee in his face.

Cattermole slotted in confidently and without fuss and left his mark with a number of trademark strong and fair challenges which lifted the near-3000 strong away following. His tenacity, however, was not going to end up in the net, which remains the biggest problem plaguing the Black Cats. Only Aston Villa and Burnley have scored fewer.

Villa, with just 11 goals from their opening 19 league games, clearly have their own problems in that area and that was highlighted shortly after half-time when Weimann pulled a shot wide when he was in space on the left inside the area.

And it was when Sunderland attacked down the other end that they got the break that should have led to a third away win of the season. With Gomez taking control of a Jones throw-in near the touchline, Delph left his studs on the Spaniard’s ankle and referee Michael Atkinson pulled out the red card.

It was a stupid and needless tackle and one that deserved the dismissal, despite the complaints from his team-mates and Villa fans, but Sunderland still struggled to find a breakthrough.

Wickham should have done better when he was picked out running behind the defence by Johnson, but in not taking his chance early he allowed the solid Ron Vlaar to charge back and help the low shot in to the side-netting.

It was after that when Sunderland, with Emanuele Giaccherini on the field to provide a fourth forward, really started to push on – and Villa Park was left stunned when the ball stayed out with 23 minutes remaining.

Cattermole’s long deflected drive was prevented from going for a corner by Johnson. The winger drove low in to the area, Giaccherini’s shot on the stretch was blocked as was a Wickham backheel and then the striker powered wide from six yards in a crowded box.

Sunderland could even have lost. Jack Grealish threatened to drop a shot inside the far post and Costel Pantilimon was forced in to a strong save from Vlaar’s header. Failing to find that little bit of magic in the final third, like so often this season, could have proven costly to Poyet’s side.

Even though Gomez powered a 20-yard drive against the far post in the last few minutes, Pantilimon was also forced in to a brilliant save when Leandro Bacuna was in space in the area when the excellent Carlos Sanchez picked him out.

A goalless draw was the outcome, but should anyone be surprised.