A Selhurst stalemate offered more encouraging signs for Sunderland

If we succeed in our mission to retain our Premier League status at the end of the 2025/2026 season, there’ll be plenty of games along the way that we’ll retrospectively highlight as potentially vital.

These will be occasions on which the entertainment value might’ve been low but the outcome worth it, and after an immensely organised display at Selhurst Park on Saturday, it’s hard to see a well-earned draw with Crystal Palace as anything other than an excellent result, for a variety of reasons.

Pound for pound, the articulate and affable Oliver Glasner is easily one of the Premier League’s best and most effective managers.

With his status as an Eagles icon secured after leading Palace to FA Cup glory last season before seeing off Liverpool to win the Community Shield, Glasner is a class act and the fact that Sunderland were able to stand toe-to-toe with the hosts, thwart them with some outstanding defensive performances and pose one or two questions in attack merely highlights the continued progress being overseen by Régis Le Bris, with his players clearly fully invested in what’s taking place at the Stadium of Light.

The fact we drew a blank in front of goal on Saturday isn’t really the point, because the red and white forward line and the likes of Chemsdine Talbi are both still a work in progress and will undoubtedly start to find their range soon.

Instead, it was about the belief this result will breed, the fact we didn’t look overawed in the slightest, and a handful of superb performances by players who seem to have settled on Wearside in next to no time. Palace might’ve been unable to call on several key figures due to injury, but better sides than ourselves will come away from South London empty-handed this season, so this was another step forward without a doubt.

If a commanding display from Robin Roefs wasn’t the main talking point, it was surely close as the Dutch goalkeeper continues to make his transfer fee from NEC Nijmegen look like peanuts, denying the hosts time and again with an array of sensational stops. Even as an avowed Anthony Patterson supporter, I can’t make a case for his selection with Roefs in this kind of form, and he already looks like a bargain.

Elsewhere, Omar Alderete laughed in the face of any international break-induced jetlag with a warrior’s display, and the likes of Nordi Mukiele continue to impress during the early stages of their Sunderland careers. Knitting together a team of overseas additions and shaping them into a cohesive unit whilst retaining the never-say-die spirit that helped us to promotion is a hard task, yet Le Bris is showing signs of doing just that — an immensely impressive achievement.

Even at this early stage of the season, the players already look as though they’re getting to grips with the top flight and perhaps most importantly, understanding that games at this level are about patience, discipline and intelligence, as well as an acceptance that a 0-0 away draw is not to be sniffed at.

With Granit Xhaka setting the standards with his pre-game rallying cry and his wholehearted displays in midfield, there’s a growing sense of intensity and laser-like focus on the task in hand about this side — something that’s admirable for a team making the step up from the Championship.

No matter how hard you look, you won’t find any wasters or bottlers in the ranks nowadays.

They would’ve been exposed by and probably crumbled in the face of a second half Palace onslaught anyway, and even stalwarts like Trai Hume will need to work hard to retain their places in the side, which is a good thing. Alan Browne’s midweek comments about “the players who got us here” being jettisoned might’ve been fair in the eyes of some, but we haven’t got time to waste and seven points from our first four league games vindicates the club’s efforts during the summer.

The foundations are looking strong. There’s undoubtedly more to come from this team and Sunday’s visit of Aston Villa — who are experiencing an unexpectedly slow start under the brilliant Unai Emery — shouldn’t be a game to fear.

Our reward for a sterling effort in south London on Saturday was perhaps as vital as a point on the board: it was a sense that we truly belong at this level, and that’s perhaps the most ringing endorsement of Le Bris, his coaches, and Sunderland’s players.

Onwards!

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