Black Cats haunted by strong sense of deja vu

IN years gone by, being sent to Coventry implied being shunned or ignored. Perhaps Niall Quinn should have realised that the Midlands city was hardly the best of places in which to kick-start his footballing revolution.

Given his exalted status at Sunderland, there is little chance of the affable Irishman being shunned as he looks to banish the memories of May's disastrous relegation from the Premiership.

But, after yesterday's defeat ensured a losing start to this season's campaign, it might be better if the rosy predictions of a trouble-free return to the top-flight are ignored.

For a game that was supposed to mark the beginning of a new era, yesterday's trip to the Ricoh Arena ended with a strong and foreboding sense of dj vu.

Perhaps it was the eight players in the Sunderland starting line-up that were signed by Quinn's predecessor, Mick McCarthy. Perhaps it was the lack of penetration that continued to hamper the Black Cats' attacking efforts. Or perhaps it was the dire defending that allowed Gary McSheffrey to fire in a 78th-minute winner as the visitors' defenders fell asleep on their own 18-yard box.

Either way, it was difficult to escape the feeling that this was less of a brave new beginning and more of a continued slump.

Quinn's challenge, between now and the closure of the transfer window at the end of the month, is to come up with the team and tactics to arrest that slide.

On the evidence of yesterday's display - and it is dangerous to read too much into one game so early in the season - Sunderland's manager-chairman still has some way to go.

The same was true of McCarthy, of course, when he lost to Coventry on the opening weekend of the 2004-05 season, only for the Black Cats to go on and claim the Championship title at a canter.

Quinn will be hoping for a similar renaissance in the next nine months but, if it is to occur, he will surely have to reveal the "strong hand" he has repeatedly claimed to be playing with during his Drumaville consortium's protracted take-over of the club. At the moment, Sunderland's cards appear to be stacked against them.

New arrivals are imperative if the Black Cats are not to carry last season's failings into the current campaign, and a new mental resolve is urgently required to prevent further self-inflicted damage hampering the Wearsiders' efforts.

Unlike much of last term, Sunderland's players were neither outclassed nor outplayed on their return to the Championship. That they still left Coventry empty-handed suggests they need to rediscover a winning mentality that has evaporated thanks to nine long months of unrelenting failure.

Even when Daryl Murphy fired the Black Cats into a 53rd-minute lead, a win still looked unlikely given their uncertainty in defence

Coventry's winner, coming from a twice-taken free-kick that still caught Sunderland's defenders completely cold, was utterly avoidable. It was not, however, difficult to predict and Quinn's greatest challenge will be to instil some mental toughness into a group of players that continue to appear fragile and inattentive at the most inopportune of times.

That will not be easy given the extent of Sunderland's previous under-achievement but, despite the end result going against the Wearsiders, it was still possible to discern signs of the general direction in which Quinn would like his side to head.

In preferring Murphy to both Kevin Kyle and Jon Stead, the Irishman proved he would not be a hostage to reputation and, in urging his midfielders to push forward at every opportunity, he hinted at an attacking abandon that was rarely apparent under McCarthy.

Such abandon should have paid dividends as early as the fourth minute. Tommy Miller, playing in an unorthodox right midfield position, stole behind the Coventry defence to latch onto Rory Delap's long throw.

His centre picked out the alert Murphy but, after stealing in front of his marker on the edge of the six-yard box, the Sunderland striker was unable to direct his header at the target. Given his prolific record in pre-season, it was a particularly profligate miss.

Coventry were equally imprecise in the final third, although the hosts' wayward shooting almost led to a bizarre breakthrough shortly after the half-hour mark.

Dele Adebola's snapshot appeared to be going nowhere as it looped harmlessly into the penalty area but, after initially deciding to leave his line, Alnwick inexplicably headed back towards his goalmouth. That enabled McSheffrey to take possession of the loose ball, only for the covering Danny Collins to get close enough to the midfielder's shot to divert it onto the angle of crossbar and post. As an opportunity conceded, it was both untidy and unnecessary.

The same could be said of Stern John's break into the penalty area on the stroke of half-time, with only Alnwick's alertness preventing the Coventry striker scoring.

That save appeared crucial when Sunderland broke the deadlock eight minutes after the interval. Miller and Collins combined to keep Grant Leadbitter's corner alive and after Stephen Elliott shuffled the ball across the face of the six-yard box, Murphy swooped to prod it home from close range.

Eighteen minutes later, though, and Coventry were level. With Kenny Cunningham failing to press on the edge of the area, John took possession of a routine long ball from the Sky Blues defence.

There appeared to be little on as the Trinidadian, who played against England in the World Cup, turned towards goal, but he immediately confounded expectation with a scintillating 20-yard strike that arrowed into Alnwick's top right-hand corner.

There was little the Black Cats could have done about that, but the same could not be said about the winner 12 minutes from time.

Sunderland's defence switched off as McSheffrey charged into the penalty area, and while the retreating Steve Caldwell recovered to get a foot to the ball, he was powerless to prevent the winger's fierce low drive finding the far corner of the net.