City 1 – 2 Sunderland
The announcement at the end of the game that a marriage had taken place at the Walkers Stadium today means that this pre-season friendly will stick in the memory of at least one family for some time. For the other 7,900-or-so at the match, it was less noteworthy – but still decent entertainment.
This was my first sighting of the Sousa-era City, so how was it?
Well, let's start with "something old". With the exception of triallist Michael Lamey, all of City's starting line-up were from the Pearson era. Or, perhaps to be more accurate in the case of D J Campbell, were on the books during the Pearson era. City lined up with Weale in goal and a back four of Lamey, Morrison, Hobbs and Berner. The midfield was N'Guesan, Oakley, King and Dyer. Campbell and Fryatt started up front. The line up was a conventional 4-2-4, with N'Guesan starting on the left, but the wingers swapping as the match progressed.
Sunderland also lined up with a 4-2-4 formation, but at the time I was less certain who was who. A small gripe to the administrators at the Walkers stadium at this point – the starting line-ups were not shown on the score board before kick off, and the Sunderland players wore shirt numbers 1 – 11, which bore no resemblance to the squad numbers used in the match programme, so recognising who was who was tricky. (Even stranger, several of the squad numbers for City in the match programme were wrong – and D J Campbell actually played in number 7 despite having squad number 32, but anyway … back to the match …)….
The early stages of the game were lively. Both sides played a fast passing game, and there was a lot of incident. Dyer shot over from a good position in the second minute, then Weale pulled off an excellent short range block a minute later. After five minutes, Sunderland were ahead when a cross found Frazer Campbell unmarked on the edge of the box and he finished well: 1-0 to Sunderland.
Three minutes later, it was City's turn for a one-one-one chance, Dyer being released through the middle, but Mignolet in the Sunderland goal saved well.
The game continued in a similarly lively manner, with chances for both sides, and in the 16th minute City equalised, Fryatt turning smartly in the box to release King in an inside-right position, from which he finished well from short range: 1-1.
Two minutes later, City were unlucky not to be ahead. Campbell – who was already looking to be on excellent form – turned well in midfield, strode forward and his 20-yard shot needed an outstanding tip-over from Mignolet to prevent City taking the lead.
The rest of the half saw well-balanced exchanges, with both teams getting behind the opposition defence rather more often than either manager would have wanted. Sunderland's two strikers were fast, leaving Hobbs and – in particular – Morrison embarrassed on a number of occasions by getting to through-balls behind City's defensive line.
Indeed, in the course of the game, Sunderland were one-on-one with Weale at least six times – a worrying number for Sousa, I would think. City also looked a little uncertain defending corners on a number of occasions – although, to be fair, so did Sunderland.
City's best chances generally involved Campbell, who was lively throughout. He headed just wide after 21 minutes, then pulled a shot wide in the 34th minute after an outstanding double-turn in the Sunderland box. He also took a good free kick just before half time, which was headed wide.
Unusually for a pre-season friendly, neither side used any substitutions at half-time (although Sunderland had replaced Ferdinand with Bardsley after just 21 minutes, presumably due to injury).
Four minutes into the second half, Henderson took a shot from 35 yards which resulted in Weale reaching to his left for the ball having committed to going to his right. The ball went through his groping hands and into the net, reminiscent of any number of goalkeeping embarrassments in the recent World Cup. Weale appeared to be unlucky, however, as the shot did seem to get a deflection: 2-1 to Sunderland.
The rest of the second half was closely balanced, but neither side created the chances they did in the first half.
Both managers began to make a stream of substitutions, which served to break up the flow of the game. Nielson and Howard replaced Lamey and Fryatt. Lamey had looked competent, and keen to get forwards. Fryatt had made a couple of significant touches, but was largely second-fiddle to Campbell.
Over the remainder of the half, Wellens replaced Oakley, Kennedy replaced Berner, John replaced Dyer, Chambers replaced Campbell, Verma replaced King and Parkes replaced Hobbs. Many of the replacements had little chance to shine – although Wellens, in particular, played well for his 20 minutes.
Sunderland also made three further substitutions, and the changing formations from both sides meant that the game lost the pleasing flow of the first half. Sunderland looked a bigger threat, but there was little to choose between the sides, and honours could very easily have been even when Howard – who had largely been quiet – turned and flashed a 20-yard shot in the 90th minute which brought out another very good save from Mignolet. But it was not to be, and the game ended in a 2-1 defeat.
What, then, about "the new" – the new Sousa-style that is? Well, it was not clear that a revolution was taking place in City's style on the basis of this performance. They passed reasonably tidily, with probably fewer long balls than last year. But there were still some, mostly aimed for N'Guesan in the first half.
And "the borrowed", well Waghorn consistently got the loudest cheers of the day from City fans – when warming up and when replacing Bent for Sunderland in the 60th minute. It was good to see him able to say" goodbye" to City fans at the Walkers this way. Sadly for him, he did not have a great game, and his first couple of meaningful touches conceded possession to City rather easily.
And "the blue"? Well, the new blue kit is fine – not too different from the old one, really.
And, as at any wedding, the clothes were carefully chosen: Sousa sporting grey trousers, a dark blue jacket and light blue shirt, with his brown shoes giving the ensemble a classic Southern European touch. This contrasted with the black track-suit chic modelled by the rather less elegant Steve Bruce.
This was a good pre-season encounter for both sides. The teams were well matched, the game was competitive and there were no significant injuries. City will need to tighten at the back against quick strikers – although there are few, if any, in the Championship as quick as Sunderland. D J Campbell was impressive, and the fans appreciated it. N'Guesan looked to have lost a little weight and looked even quicker as a consequence – he had a good game. Morrison was a little slow on the ball a few times, the rest played competently.
Roll on the real thing from next week!
City: Weale, Lamey, Morrison, Hobbs, Berner, N'Guesan, Oakley, King, Dyer, Fryatt, Campbell. Subs used: Neilson, Parkes, Howard, Kennedy, John, Wellens, Chambers, Verma.
Subs not used: Logan.
Sunderland: Mignolet, Ferdinand, Richardson, Bramble, Turner, Cattermole, Henderson, Al-Muhammadi, Malbranque, Campbell, Bent. Sub used: Bardsley, Da Silva, Zenden, Jones, Waghorn.
Subs not used: Wilson, Angeleri, Liddle, Colback.
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation