Sunderland struggles spread to Europe – showing the potential they could throw away

It’s important to keep a sense of perspective when analysing Sunderland‘s current predicament. Even for those ready to criticise, there has to be some acknowledgement of where they were not so long ago. Who would have thought they’d have a European game to complain about when they were languishing in League One and the Championship?

But a European game to complain about, they do have. The Europa League has given them some pleasant distractions from their poor Premier League form so far, but their unbeaten record on Thursday nights has come to an end with a 2-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb.

It is not for non-Sunderland fans to tell Sunderland fans how they should feel about their team right now. It would be easy for an outsider to look at their situation and offer some advice along the lines of ‘be careful what you wish for’. For some, Sunderland should be grateful for being in the Premier League after all their years away, let alone being in Europe.

Being able to boo off their team at half time of a Europa League game would have been unthinkable for the Sunderland faithful before Regis Le Bris came along. And yet now, the manager is feeling the heat due to a dire spell of form. Sunderland struggling in a European game could have every bit as much impact on his future as another loss in the Premier League would.

A loss on a stage like this only serves to show Sunderland’s potential and what they could throw away if their slide in the Premier League continues. They fought so hard to get back to this level, surpassed their expectations, and are now at risk of ending up back at square one if they’re not too careful.

These are the nights Sunderland should be enjoying. If they’d built their squad appropriately over the summer, they could have been building towards a future where this kind of involvement in European competition isn’t so rare. But they have left themselves short and are now suffering.

They at least showed a bit of fight in the second half. But it has to be accompanied by quality – a commodity that had been seriously lacking throughout the night.

Sunderland had an uphill battle after going two goals down before the break. To Dinamo Zagreb’s credit, both goals were well taken. The first was a fine volley by Luka Stojkovic, and the second saw the same player dink the ball through for in-form striker Dion Beljo to lift over Robin Roefs.

Sunderland had been guilty of ball watching and failing to track Dinamo’s movement. In possession, they were wasteful. Even Granit Xhaka, such an important player for them last season before the summer’s Chelsea transfer saga, kept giving the ball away.

Le Bris knows he’s in a rut. What he might not know is how to get out of it without a bit of help. He made four substitutions at half time after some frantic discussions with his staff before the break. Tellingly, it was the assistants who seemed to be pushing the most to get their messages across.

The changes did inject new energy into Sunderland’s performance and they were unfortunate to see an early goal chalked off by VAR, with Wilson Isidor offside when he headed in a Xhaka free kick.

More chances followed, with a Malick Fofana volley and follow-up Trai Hume effort both blocked. Later, Kevin Danso hit the top of the bar from a wide angle.

But it was all too little, too late for Sunderland. Just like at half time, boos rang out after the full-time whistle. All is not well on Wearside right now.

Dinamo were deserving winners on their visit to the Stadium of Light. But the question is, where would they finish in the Premier League? They have talent, with Stojkovic in particular impressing and Beljo clearly capable of scoring a goal or two, but you suspect this is the kind of team Sunderland would be under pressure to take points off in their efforts to stay up.

They were unable to. Who knows how it would have gone if Isidor had been onside for that potential goal early in the second half. Perhaps Sunderland would have found even more momentum after that. But they were too far off it in reality and never able to claw their way back into the game.

Chelsea will be the next visitors to the Stadium of Light this weekend. Things aren’t exactly getting much easier for Le Bris. An international break can be a period ripe for sackings and he must be looking over his shoulder.

Le Bris has built something special with Sunderland, but their empire might be a short-lived one. As we know, Sunderland might not even have been dreaming of European nights a couple of years ago, but even if they were, it probably didn’t look like this.

And when they were starting to get themselves primed for it earlier this year, it definitely won’t have looked like this.

This Europa League campaign is salvageable for Sunderland. So too is the Premier League campaign at this early stage. But whether Le Bris will be the man to salvage things or not remains to be seen.

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