3 things we clearly learnt about Sunderland after their 1-0 victory v Morecambe | OneFootball

Sunderland finished their normal season campaign against Morecambe yesterday.

The Black Cats were able to come out on top with a 1-0 victory that leaves them fifth in the League One table and ready to compete in the play-offs whilst their opponents avoided relegation due to teams below them losing.

Sunderland will now go on to face Sheffield Wednesday in the play-offs and if they are able to overcome the Owls across two legs, they will be up against either MK Dons or Wycombe in the final.

They don’t have much time to prepare for their first game as they host Wednesday on Friday evening but here we take a look at three things we learnt about the Black Cats after their win yesterday as they look ahead to their next game.

They know how to make their possession count

Looking at the statistics from yesterday’s game, the two sides were fairly even in terms of share of possession at 45% vs 55% in Sunderland’s favour.

However, Morecambe had no shots on targets whilst the Black Cats registered three on target showing they did a better job at using their possession to their advantage and get into strong spaces that would give them the chances in front of goal.

There is a reason Sunderland are towards the top of the table and being able to do this is definitely a reason. Although Alex Neil would rather his team have the ability to play nicer and more free flowing football, it’s important to be able to adapt to games where this is not possible to do but still be able to come out on top.

Therefore, we can see that Sunderland were able to use what time on the ball they did have to their own advantage which helped them win the game.

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Defensive duties

Given Morecambe had their fair share of the ball, it’s no surprise that they were able to register five shots throughout the game. However, they were not able to get a single shot on target.

Whilst Morecambe are a poorer team in the league, they have scored ten goals in seven games this month and are capable of putting them away.

Therefore, the fact that they weren’t able to register a single shot on target is credit to Sunderland’s defensive work.

This shows us that the Black Cats did not allow their opponents the opportunities to get into the good spaces where they would be able to get shots on target and were heavy on them every time they got the ball.

To have the tenacity throughout the game to keep on their opponents in a defensive way is something that they might need to do in the play-offs so it was definitely a good opportunity for them to practice this part of their game.

Although they did win the game, Sunderland will be disappointed to have come away with only one goal from the game.

Sunderland only had three shots on target and seven shots but in the game they were in they should’ve been converting more of their chances.

Morecambe haven’t been a strong side this season and the fact they ended the season with a goal difference of -31 says a lot about the number of goals they have been conceding this season.

Therefore, you would expect a side like Sunderland to be taking more advantage of this and have the quality in front of goal to give themselves more of a lead.

Given the two top scorers at Sunderland this season have scored 24 and 12 goals, they know how to do the job in front of goal and therefore they need to ensure they are making the most of their scoring opportunities.