Sunderland vs. Manchester United: Winners and Losers from Premier League
The Premier League's early kick-off on Saturday saw Sunderland give themselves a huge boost in the relegation battle by beating Manchester United 2-1.
Sunderland started in the best possible way, as a low Wahbi Khazri free-kick bounced past everybody and in off the post after just three minutes. The home side could have extended their lead soon after as Jermain Defoe went close.
United took over half an hour to register their first shot, but their equaliser wasn't too much longer in coming; Anthony Martial chipped home for 1-1 after a Juan Mata shot was saved. After the break, chances were few and far between but fell mostly Sunderland's way. Lamine Kone headed in the 82nd minute, the ball going in off David De Gea, to give Sunderland a vital lead.
Here are all our winners and losers from an eventful match at the Stadium of Light.
Winner: Dame N'Doye
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The former Hull City man didn't score, but he put in a tremendous shift, firstly on the right side of the attack and later as the centre-forward for Sunderland.
Dame N'Doye was powerful and direct with his running, held the ball up superbly at times and got himself into a few good shooting positions, one of which saw him denied by a fine save by De Gea.
N'Doye worked relentlessly for the team, was a threat from set pieces and epitomised the Sunderland side throughout with his closing down, tracking back and ability to win the ball aerially.
Loser: Injuries in a Busy Period
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Sunderland had a boost pre-game when Jermain Defoe unexpectedly passed a fitness test, but it wasn't long before both teams suffered with players leaving the field.
Jan Kirchhoff, imperative for Sam Allardyce's plans for survival, went off with a hamstring strain early on in the first half—that could easily be two or three weeks out at a minimum.
United then lost right-back Matteo Darmian to a suspected dislocated shoulder, per Squawka on Twitter, leaving them with two young full-backs on the pitch, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and debutant Donald Love, who struggled at times.
Winner: John O'Shea
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Both Sunderland's centre-backs deserve mention, with Lamine Kone and John O'Shea both getting through a huge volume of work to repel United's consistent but uninspiring attacks.
Kone powered in the header that led to the winning goal and was adept in the air, but O'Shea was consistently organising his defence, ordering others around and made a huge volume of clearances and interceptions of crosses at the near post.
Late on he made a fine block from a Memphis Depay shot to preserve the points for his team. Following the match, O'Shea told BT Sport live: "The new lads made a fantastic impact and we saw that today. It's a good step for us today. We've more tough matches to go, and ultimately it'll be down to ourselves [to avoid relegation]."
Loser: Louis van Gaal
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It went from bad to worse for Louis van Gaal, whose men lost their seventh Premier League match of the season and are six points adrift of the top four having played a game more than the sides above them.
There were a number of poor performers in his starting XI—Chris Smalling, Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney most notably—and he didn't have options on the bench to change things around despite the huge sums of money—reported by the Mirror to be £250 million—he has spent.
Another defeat to a relegation-threatened team will do nothing to stem the rumours that his job is under threat and that he'll be replaced at the end of the season.
Winner: Juan Mata
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Probably the best player on the field overall, Juan Mata showed plenty of touches of class, an ability to shoot with composure first time and his propensity to find space in between the lines.
The Spaniard was United's best option to link play move through the middle and final thirds, letting players run off him and picking diagonal passes through Sunderland's defence. Several times he followed up the moves to get into the box and put efforts on goal, including for United's goal.
Ultimately, Mata's impact was lessened by poor performers around him, with little movement or quality in the box from his team-mates.
