Middlesbrough claim North-East bragging rights with derby win

IF Aitor Karanka and his Middlesbrough team had pictured an ideal way to start life in the Premier League then four points from a possible six, including a victory at a North-East neighbour, would have been just about right. 

If only David Moyes had a similar haul to offer some hope from his own opening couple of matches in charge of pointless Sunderland.

See a fans gallery from the game here

That is exactly what Boro could savour when they walked on to the team coach in front of the main entrance at the Stadium of Light after a brilliant first-half double from Cristhian Stuani increased the problems for the Black Cats and Moyes.

It was the first time the A19 rivals had met in the top-flight since 2009 and Boro came out on top, courtesy of a performance that did just enough to seal the points, even though Patrick van Aanholt had pulled one back 19 minutes before the end.

Moyes has made no secret of his desperation to add to his squad and Boro’s victory only exacerbated a worrying situation highlighted by the teamsheet. 

This is Sunderland’s tenth consecutive season in the Premier League and yet the club which has spent the last seven years in the Championship look better equipped to stay among the elite. 

Sunderland’s players, with youngsters Lynden Gooch and Duncan Watmore two of the brightest on the day, worked hard enough and did plenty of good things in possession, but lacked the options from the bench and in the squad to make an impact this season. 

That is why Moyes will spend every minute he can in the remaining days of the transfer window to bring in the right players, and he will need owner Ellis Short to put up some serious cash or Sunderland’s annual fight to beat the drop will be on the agenda once more.

It is hard to believe it is just four months ago when Sunderland, and Sam Allardyce, danced with delight in front of a raucous home crowd after defeating Everton 3-0 to give genuine hope for a brighter future. 

The first home game since then ended like so many have before in recent years … in defeat.

Boro head coach Karanka’s only concerns, having brought in ten new players since promotion, are centred on building on a victory over Sunderland and a point against Stoke City. 

It was by no means the perfect display from Middlesbrough, they didn’t retain the ball as well as they have in the past and were rattled for a period just before and after van Aanholt’s goal. 

They also should have gone for a third, rather than protect a two-goal lead, but they proved they will be tough to crack this season.

Brad Guzan, a summer signing after leaving Aston Villa, was one of three changes and he had a few early touches on his competitive debut because of a slight training ground injury sustained by Victor Valdes. 

Jermain Defoe and his team-mates pressed hard early on to put the visitors under pressure.

Even though Sunderland enjoyed a number of attacks, Boro’s backline – including Antonio Barragan again in the middle with fit again Daniel Ayala on the bench – held firm to protect Guzan’s net for the most part.

Middlesbrough didn’t do as much probing but Stuani’s moment of brilliance was enough to earn them the lead at the break. 

When Emilio Nsue started the counter-attack from deep he rolled the pass to Alvaro Negredo, who in turn fed Stuani.

There was still plenty of work to be done and rather than roll a pass into the feet of the overlapping Nsue, Stuani crashed an unbelievable right-foot drive into the top right corner of Vito Mannone’s net after being allowed the space to shoot by van Aanholt.

Sunderland’s problems – mainly a lack of top-class options – have been well documented but once they were heightened by the sight of O’Shea leaving the pitch before half-time through injury, Middlesbrough’s victory seemed even more certain.

And, eight minutes later and after Karanka had demanded his players picked up the pace, Stuani’s second arrived in style. It might not have had individual brilliance about it when he found the net from close range, but the build-up play was Premier League class.

Adam Forshaw, who impressively pressed his own claims for starting in the future after taking his chance in the absence of injured pair Marten de Roon and Grant Leadbitter, played a neat one-two with Gaston Ramirez before then finding the feet of Negredo.

The Spanish striker looked as if he was shaping to shoot when he turned and left Rodwell on the floor in the six-yard box but he unselfishly rolled the ball to the feet of Stuani, who did the rest. 

Karanka’s men could not have done any more, whereas for Moyes, more than a half-time team talk will be required to get Sunderland going this season.
He did introduce Jeremain Lens for Paddy McNair – a home debutant along with Adnan Januzaj, Donald Love and Papy Djilobodji – and he brought some extra attacking invention after the restart.

Januzaj, who disappointingly faded after a bright opening quarter of an hour, ought to have done better when he fluffed his shot from eight yards after he was picked out by Lens.

Then Guzan finally had something to do.

The American was alert to stretch out his left hand to make a superb stop from van Aanholt’s rasping effort.

Guzan will be annoyed to have not got the ball away to a safe area for the goal though. He got down to save Watmore’s low drive but van Aanholt was following up to convert. 

At that point there was a sense Sunderland might claw level.

But Middlesbrough weathered the brief storm. 

Karanka has strong foundations on which to build the rest of the season on. 
Moyes, on the other hand, has ten days to address the issues that seem to be leading Sunderland in the direction of another long and difficult season in the top tier of English football.

Sunderland (4-2-3-1): Mannone; Love, Djilobodji, O’Shea (Pienaar 37), van Aanholt; Rodwell, McNair (Lens 46); Watmore (Asoro 81), Januzaj, Gooch; Defoe.

Subs (not used): Pickford (gk), T Robson, J Robson, Khazri.

Middlesbrough (4-2-3-1): Guzan; Nsue (Ayala 82), Barragan, Gibson, Friend; Clayton, Forshaw; Stuani, Ramirez (Adomah 59), Downing; Negredo (Nugent 90).

Subs (not used): Konstantopoulos (gk), Baptiste, de Sart, Fischer.