True redemption, perhaps, would have been to score with a Panenka, but Enzo Le Fée didn’t quite have the chutzpah for that. His duffed dink at Brentford in January was the low point of one of Sunderland’s two worst performances of the season, but he converted from the spot with eight minutes remaining to earn a draw in a battle of two physically aggressive and well-drilled teams who must both look at the chaos elsewhere and be thinking again of top-half finishes.
It had seemed that it would be a tale of Brentford’s newfound strength in depth and a second-half turnaround as they overcame a rocky first period to have the better of the second after a triple change at half-time, having already lost their captain Nathan Collins to a calf strain. But instead it was a Sunderland substitute who made the key contribution, Wilson Isidor being held by Keane Lewis-Potter at the back post to earn the decisive penalty.
“The first half we didn’t hit the levels we have,” said the Brentford manager, Keith Andrews. “Second half I thought we did the basics very well, allowed us control and a little bit more territory. I think if we’d played the same XI second half there would have been a reaction, but we needed that chance for renewed energy and new personality. We need to constantly evolve and adapt according to what teams do against us. We feel confident we can fix different problems with the personnel we have.”
These are not normal times. Clubs up and down the Premier League are in flux, undercooked and struggling to deal with a flurry of late signings. In that context, it’s reasonable to wonder what the ceiling for Brentford might be. They narrowly missed out on Europe last season, but with this squad and rivals wobbling, a first qualification has to be the target this time round. Business done early and wisely, Brentford are the poster club for what now seems an old-fashioned model of team-building, one that doesn’t lead to flustered final day sprees or competing private jets on the runway at Lyon airport. They may rely on algorithms and the data-led unearthing of hidden gems, but there is at least a sense of a squad being built for footballing rather than financial reasons.
The feeling with Sunderland is always that they’re rather more effective when there is no expectation that they will make the play. Countering dangerously, often through the erratic and unpredictable stylings of Nilson Angulo, they had the four best opportunities before the break: a Dan Ballard volley was ruled out because the debutant Kevin Danso was offside and in the goalkeeper’s eyeline, Le Fée smacked a shot against the post and, twice, goalbound efforts were blocked in the six-yard box, once by Jannik Schuster, who impressed after replacing Collins, and once inadvertently by Brian Brobbey, who got in the way of that rarest of things, an on-target effort from Noah Sadiki.
Sunderland’s manager, Régis Le Bris, said: “We were dominant but didn’t score, which is a shame when you come away somewhere like this. We still have this character. We are good when we are behind and we are still able to change the dynamic.”
Andrews called it a “proper game” and said tactical battles like that “make me feel alive”. And his half-time shake-up worked. Brentford looked far more comfortable after the break, and Igor Thiago had already headed a close-range chance straight at Robin Roefs when Vitaly Janelt put Brentford ahead after 57 minutes, meeting Nordi Mukiele’s diving headed clearance at the top of the bounce and steering a controlled slice into the top corner.
As Aaron Hickey, one of those three half-time changes, got much tighter to Angulo than Michael Kayode had, the Sunderland threat down the left diminished. Mamadou Sangaré, having dominated the 3-0 win over Spurs, found life rather harder against Granit Xhaka and Sadiki, but Brentford now have options on the bench. Yehor Yarmoliuk came on and imposed himself far more. Jaidon Antony, similarly, offered fresh impetus in replacing Dango Ouattara.
But while Sunderland’s lack of incision remains an area obviously in need of improvement, they had just about enough to haul themselves back into the game; those spurned first-half opportunities will not be rued too much.
