Sunderland: The main talking points from Sunderland's 1-0 defeat at Watford - plus post-match reaction from David Moyes

Miguel Britos’ second-half header ensured David Moyes’ side remain rooted to the bottom of the table, with just nine more games of the season to go.

What were the main talking points from Vicarage Road?

THE END IS NIGH

Prior to kick-off, it felt as though Sunderland had to take all three points to have any chance of pulling off yet another ‘Great Escape’. By the time the final whistle blew, with other results having gone against them, this certainly felt like the day when relegation became inevitable.

As if suffering yet another defeat was not bad enough, Sunderland’s players will have trudged to the Vicarage Road dressing rooms to discover that Hull, Crystal Palace and Leicester had all claimed victories. Somehow, Palace even managed to engineer a win at the league leaders, Chelsea.

The upshot is that Sunderland are seven points adrift of safety with nine games to play – and the situation could get even worse tomorrow afternoon.

Seventeenth-placed Swansea host Middlesbrough in tomorrow’s early-afternoon kick-off, and if Paul Clement’s side win at the Liberty Stadium, the Black Cats will be ten points adrift of the safety zone.

MISGUIDED TEAM SELECTION FROM MOYES

Didier Ndong and Wahbi Khazri were unable to change things when they came onto the field in the second half, but at least they added some much-needed impetus and energy to the Sunderland midfield. So why on earth weren’t they in the starting line-up?

Ndong’s omission was the most baffling given that Gabon international is the Black Cats’ club-record signing and has been their most effective midfielder in a number of matches this season. At the very least, he is capable of breaking into the opposition box to pose a threat, something that is not the case with the midfield trio that started the game.

Khazri has been on the periphery of things throughout Moyes’ reign, but while the Tunisian can occasionally be infuriating, he offers a goal threat, something that has been severely lacking as Sunderland have failed to score in seven of their last eight games.

With Ndong and Khazri on the bench, the Black Cats started with Jason Denayer playing alongside Jack Rodwell and Darron Gibson. Unsurprisingly, the trio failed to ask questions of Watford’s defensive midfielders.

HOW BAD WOULD IT BE WITHOUT PICKFORD?

Catastrophic is the answer. Sunderland were deservedly beaten by Britos’ second-half header, but the margin of their defeat would have been much more emphatic had Jordan Pickford not made his usual quota of three or four sensational saves.

His first-half double save was probably the pick, as he kept out M’Baye Niang’s low effort before throwing himself to the ground to produce a superb stop off Abdoulaye Doucoure.

He was at it again shortly before the interval, saving from Niang once again, and spared Sunderland’s blushes with another three decent stops in the second half.

Sunderland’s supporters clearly appreciate his efforts – he was cheered when he went over to the away end at the final whistle, while just about all of his team-mates were booed – but they had better make the most of him while they can. Whatever league Sunderland are playing in next season, Pickford will surely not be lining up for them.

A FRUSTRATING END TO THE WEEK FOR DEFOE

Jermain Defoe has had an excellent couple of weeks, capped with his goal at Wembley in England’s 2-0 win over Lithuania. Today, though, the Sunderland striker came back down to earth with a bump.

He didn’t even have a meaningful chance, such was the paucity of the Black Cats’ creative play, and he cut a frustrated figure as he left the field at the final whistle.

Having twisted his knee in the second half, it didn’t even look like he would finish the game for a while, and with Tuesday’s trip to Leicester preceding next weekend’s home game with Manchester United, Sunderland will be fretting over his wellbeing over the next few days.

Provided he is fit to line up at the King Power Stadium, Moyes will have to find a way of setting him up some chances in the penalty area. Sunderland have failed to score in seven of their last eight games, but it is not as though it is Defoe who has been at fault.

MANAGER’S COMMENTS:

Sunderland boss David Moyes said: “We need to win games. I don’t know about miracles, but we know they do happen, and they’ve happened a couple of times at Sunderland recently. We needed to take something from the game today, and I thought overall we deserved to do that.

“I actually thought we played a lot better late on, when we trying to get forward a bit more. I think that was partly because Watford were desperate for the result and were hanging on a bit late on. I was more disappointed with the start of the second half because I thought Watford gained a little bit of momentum and we weren’t really able to stop that at that period.

“I’m sure the club have been here before. I’ve not been here before – it’s new to me – but hopefully the people at the club know exactly what it’s like. In one of the seasons, they were seven points behind with six games to go, and stayed up. I think if you can do it from that position, you can do it from any. We’ll keep going, and we’ll keep trying to pick up the points.

“It’s new, but I don’t want to have teams at the bottom of the league. I don’t want to be at this position where we’re losing. I don’t actually think today we deserved to lose the game. If it had been a point apiece, I don’t think you could have argued.

“Jordan is a top young goalkeeper, and is now beginning to look like a top senior goalkeeper as well, albeit that he’s of a young age. He made one really good save in the first half, but more importantly, it felt as though he had a real command of his penalty box. Watford are probably the biggest side in the league, they remind me of a couple of old-fashioned teams from years and years ago, but we defended set-pieces against them really well, except on one occasion. We just didn’t deal with that one in the second half.

Watford manager Walter Mazzarri said: “I thought their goalkeeper (Pickford) was excellent. We had a lot of chances, but he made some excellent saves to keep them out. I’ve never seen a goalkeeper who is so good at saving with his legs.

“From the outside, I know people might have thought that we were in a difficult position, but I never thought that we were in a (relegation) fight. We lost to Crystal Palace in our last game, but Crystal Palace have just gone today and won against Chelsea.

“I have never been worried about our position – I have always felt we have been quite a long way away from the relegation (positions). Now, we have moved even further up and we are a lot closer to realising our ambition, which has always been to stay in the division.”

LINE-UPS:

Watford (4-1-4-1): Gomes; Cathcart, Kaboul (Janmaat 42), Britos, Holebas; Doucoure; Niang (Zuniga 86), Cleverley, Capoue, Amrabat (Success 53); Okaka.

Subs (not used): Pantilimon (gk), Prodl, Mariappa, Deeney.

Sunderland (4-3-3): Pickford; Jones, Kone, O’Shea, Oviedo; Rodwell, Denayer, Gibson (Ndong 61); Januzaj (Khazri 70), Defoe, Borini.

Subs (not used): Mannone (gk), Manquillo, Djilobodji, Cattermole, Larsson.