Match Analysis: Never mind 'rough seas' - Sunderland are in danger of sinking without trace

Too harsh an assessment just six games into the Premier League season? Possibly. But all available evidence is pointing towards yet another prolonged relegation fight, and if anything, the current squad looks less well-equipped to survive than any of its recent predecessors. And given Sunderland’s desperate form over the last four years, that is saying something.

• Four key talking points from Sunderland's 3-2 defeat - plus David Moyes' hard-hitting reaction

Even by the standards of a team that has not won a league game in August or September since 2012, Saturday’s shambolic second half represented a new low. Two goals to the good on the hour mark, the Black Cats finished empty handed as their defence completely collapsed in the final 30 minutes.

Basic errors melded with a chronic lack of leadership to produce a defensive horror show that was in keeping with much of what had gone before it this season. Sunderland have conceded at least two goals in four of their six league outings this term. Even Jermain Defoe cannot score enough goals to counteract that.

Patrick van Aanholt played as though the troubles of the last week had caught up with him, Papy Djilobodji produced another error-strewn display that made a mockery of his £8m summer price tag and Javier Manquillo displayed startling naivety as he conceded the stoppage-time free-kick that resulted in Christian Benteke’s winner.

Yet it was the general lack of organisation and collective commitment that was the most alarming aspect of Sunderland’s capitulation. Moyes said he didn’t see many players “defending for their lives”, but perhaps more worrying was the sense that Sunderland’s players didn’t even know what they were meant to be doing as they attempted to repel Palace’s late attacks.

Moyes has to take some of the responsibility for that, but as a refreshingly honest Jan Kirchhoff admitted, the buck ultimately has to stop with the club’s under-performing players.

“It is 100 per cent fair to say that we have to take responsibility,” said Kirchhoff, who erred himself when he was out-jumped for Benteke’s headed winner. “We get prepared well before the game and we know what to do.

“We know how to defend and what to do, but we didn’t do it properly. It is up to us to communicate on the pitch and get leadership down there. We need people who are willing to take the lead and say, ‘This is what we need to do to get this result’.

“We have to find a way of closing games out. There are a lot of ways to do it, but you have to do the same thing as a team.

“You can all push up and not stop your pressing, and try to control the game like that and create more chances, or you can sit deep and defend with everyone behind the ball. It feels as if we had two different ideas on the pitch, especially when it was 2-1, and that is not good.

“We really have to stay together and communicate better to get one clear idea about how we want to play a football game. We got that for a lot of the game – up until 2-0, we knew what we were doing. But we have to keep that clarity when the game gets more difficult.

“As a footballer, you have to be able to adapt to different situations. When it was 2-1, it was a different situation and we should have been able to adapt to that. We needed a new plan.”

Instead, Sunderland were a shambles in the closing stages. There was an element of misfortune to the deflected strike from Joe Ledley that sparked Palace’s comeback, although van Aanholt’s failure to close down the midfielder meant there was always a risk of a damaging deflection.

Palace’s second goal was a litany of errors from a Sunderland perspective, with Manquillo allowing substitute Zeki Fryers to surge past him on the outside and van Aanholt failing to stick to James McArthur as the midfielder headed home from close range.

Even that was surpassed in the fourth minute of stoppage time though as Manquillo senselessly barged into Connor Wickham close to the touchline, despite the former Sunderland striker clearly being willing to simply shield the ball. Lee Chung-Yong swung over the free-kick, and Benteke charged into the six-yard box unopposed to head home.

Palace’s fightback meant Defoe’s efforts went unrewarded, and if there was a positive from Sunderland’s fifth defeat in six league games, it was the performance of their talismanic striker.

Defoe slotted home his side’s opener after he capitalised on a panicked back-pass from Ledley, and claimed a second goal early in the second half when he drilled past Steve Mandanda after Duncan Watmore’s cross was deflected into his path.

It hardly needs saying, but Defoe will be absolutely crucial to Sunderland’s hopes of enacting another successful survival campaign. You could hardly blame him, however, if he is questioning why he continues to bother.

“It is a shocking result for us,” said Kirchhoff. “They were only dangerous from free-kicks and corners, but even with those we were defending well, and we led 2-0. But obviously we didn’t all have the same idea about what to do next.

“We needed to stay in the game, but we threw it away and it’s hard to describe what happened at the end. When you are two goals up, there should be no way you lose. But that is what happened. There is no explanation for why.”

No explanation, other than Sunderland’s collective ineptitude, which even Moyes is having to acknowledge.