Inside Sunderland's latest frustration: What went wrong and the key next steps

There were times in this game where if the colour of the kit had not been different and the weather eventually a little softer, you might have looked out and thought that not much had changed since Tony Mowbray’s side were last at Deepdale.

Time and time again Sunderland hit the byline, Jack Clarke back to his best and Patrick Roberts at times unplayable. This is one of those afternoons where his dribbling can seem to defy the laws of motion, his small frame driving into a blur of feet and bodies before he then somehow flies out the other side. 

And yet it counts for little, if every time he hits the byline he looks up and sees… well, nothing much.

Two things are true about Sunderland right now: zero points from their opening two games is in no way indicative of their general performance level and yet, it can hardly be considered an aberration. Sunderland still broadly look a very good Championship side, but they are one badly lacking a cutting edge.

There was some misfortune again here, the opening goal striking Will Keane and wrong-footing Anthony Patterson. Keane knew considerably less about his effort than Nathan Broadhead did last week, a reminder that football games can turn on the finest of margins.

Either side of that Mowbray’s side were if not quite in top gear then certainly in control and most definitely the side who looked most like scoring.

They got their creative players in the middle of the pitch, found their wingers in space and watched them do their magic. What they missed was the final piece, the players getting into the right position to score the kind of tap-ins that the best strikers make look routine. 

In both games so far this season, there has been enough from the general play to make Mowbray’s confident words that his team are going to be OK ones of substance. All the same, he and everyone else watching knows there will be more afternoons like this if the final stretches of the transfer window do not yield more firepower.

“Let’s hope someone comes in this week who can make a name for themselves this week,” he said afterwards.

There was understandably some frustration that given all of the above, the one striker Sunderland do have in their ranks was named on the bench. 

There was in retrospect a hint of the decision to come in Mowbray’s press conference on Friday, when he discussed at length Hemir’s progress. The head coach spoke of the need to acclimatise not just on the pitch and off it, while there is also a recognition that physically there is still a lot of work to do. Hemir featured little through the second half of last season as his departure from Benfica became inevitable and as such, he is catching up on his team mates and in a role where the pressing demands are significant. Mowbray regularly praised Hemir’s ability in the weeks leading up to the season but the need to get him up to speed was always the caveat.

The point here being that at this stage he cannot realistically play 90 minutes, game after game. Mowbray felt this one, against a side with three imposing centre-halves, was a sensible one to do it a little differently. 

Though the often empty six-yard box was a source of frustration before his arrival, you could see the logic in the latter stages as he struggled to make a real impact, swarmed by those defenders as soon as the ball came near.

If there was one spell that did feel concerning going forward, then it was this one at the end of the game. Having spurned two good chances to level with fifteen still to play, Sunderland produced a laboured ending. The tempo wasn’t quite there, and the body language was a long way off where it was for much of last season. Perhaps that is a by-product of the transfer window being open and all the unsettling speculation that brings with it, or perhaps it is just a sign that confidence has dipped a touch. Perhaps it is a bit of both, but on and off the pitch the feelgood factor has taken a hit. That can turn quickly, if Sunderland can find those missing ingredients.

If there was a crucial turning point in this game, it was the second goal. Sunderland looked in control before an ambitious attempt at a 1-2 played Preston into acres of space and with an overload that always looked likely to result in a goal. Mowbray spoke of his frustration with the attempted lay-off in the dressing room afterwards but his criticism was tempered because he understands that such mistakes inevitably come with youth.

The risks Sunderland are taking more broadly this season most certainly feed into this, playing out from the back more frequently and operating without an out-and-out holding midfielder. Both are still a work in progress and have played their part in some of the issues on show, and yet Preston North End’s output in general was so limited here that it is hard to take any major issue with the game plan and set up of the team.  As Sunderland look to get on the board, though, the case for a touch more experience - whether that be Alex Pritchard or Lynden Gooch or a new arrival, looks strong.

It was more than fair for Mowbray to say that there is no major reason for concern even if the results have undoubtedly been bitterly disappointing. This is still a good side and it did more than enough to get something out of this game, again.

There is a lot of work to do to prevent a repeat, nevertheless.