Avoiding another collapse

So much has gone wrong in Sunderland’s opening two matches that it’s hard to know where to start when assessing what they need to do to avoid a repeat. Improving how they deal with the concession of a goal would be a decent start though.

Against both Leicester and Norwich, the concession of the opening goal resulted in a wholesale collapse that eventually left the Black Cats 3-0 down and effectively out of the game.

The Northern Echo:

All too often in the last few years, letting in one goal has been the spark for two or three going into the Sunderland net. Is that a question of heart or organisation?

It’s probably a bit of both, but no matter what else happens this afternoon, the Black Cats cannot afford to become disheartened or disorganised if things go wrong. Even at 1-0 down, Sunderland would still be in the game if they immediately dug in to steady the ship.

 

Defensive alterations required

Dick Advocaat opted to give the defenders that malfunctioned at Leicester another opportunity to prove themselves against Norwich. The ploy didn’t work, and there will surely have to be changes for the visit of Swansea.

The centre-half pairing of Younes Kaboul and Sebastian Coates hasn’t been working, so John O’Shea surely has to come back into the starting line-up. A personal preference would be to leave out Kaboul, although the former Spurs defender marginally outperformed Coates last weekend.

Patrick van Aanholt has defended abysmally in each of the opening two games and has to be removed from the firing line this afternoon.

The Northern Echo: Sunderland's Patrick van Aanholt goes close during the Barclays Premier League match at Turf Moor, Burnley. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday September 20, 2014. See PA story SOCCER Burnley. Photo credit should read: Richard Sellers/PA W

Advocaat doesn’t really have a natural alternative, but Adam Matthews has played in both full-back berths in the past and it is surely worth trying out the former Celtic man on the left-hand side.

 

How do you contain Montero’s attacking threat?

Jefferson Montero has just about been the stand-out player in the whole of the Premier League in the opening two games, running Branislav Ivanovic ragged in Swansea’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea before bamboozling Daryl Janmaat to the extent that the Newcastle defender got himself sent off last weekend.

With Montero set to line up on Swansea’s left-hand side again, Billy Jones is likely to find himself up against the Ecuadorian, and he will have to be at his very best to cope.

The Northern Echo:

Even if Jones is on song though, he will still need plenty of support, which could be a problem if Sunderland stick to a 4-3-3 formation.

With Seb Larsson likely to be tucking in, Jermain Defoe will have to run himself into the ground to ensure he provides adequate support to Jones if, as expected, he starts on the right-hand side of Sunderland’s attacking trio.