Matchday Musings: Raising the Roefs!

Of all of Sunderland’s purchases over the summer, the acquisition of Robin Roefs was one that probably went under the radar a little; understandably so, given the names that came in, and the fees we paid for them.

An outlay £10m or so for a young keeper from Eurpoe who’d played only one season of regular first team football seemed good squad building business, however the initial – natural – reaction was to wonder whether he was ‘one for the future’ or someone who was up to the challenge of the Premier League from the off.

From the off, he’s looked calm, strong and assured, good in possession and capable of dominating the box. He passed the eye test straight away. A penalty save against Brentford last time out that set us up for three points caught a few glimpses from the wider footballing world.

His second-half performance at Selhurst Park yesterday afternoon, coming off the back of his first call-up for the Netherlands, saw his reputation grow by the minute as he turned in an excellent display that earned Sunderland their first point away from home in a game that was viewed by many as being our first ‘real’ Premier League test away from home.

While there was a lot of speculation surrounding the fitness of players returning from international duty, it was one who’d stayed on Wearside – Enzo Le Fee – who missed out through injury when the team news came through 75 minutes before kick off. It was disappointing, particularly after a man-of-the-match display against Brentford, but we had a more than able replacement in the shape of Simon Adingra. Wilson Idsidor’s two goals from the bench so far this season earned him a recall in place of Elezier Mayenda, and both forwards will have been wanting the chance to impress with new signing Brian Brobbey on the bench, alongside fellow deadline day recruits Geertruida and Traore.

Before the game, the word was that Palace – coming into the game with the longest current unbeaten Premier League run – struggle against teams who play with a low block, however it was Sunderland, backed by a noisy away following, who dominated the early stages; Palace keeper Henderson just nicking the ball from Wilson Isidor after a nice move down the right involving Talbi and Diarra.

Palace’s Jefferson Lerma had a shot over the bar from range as the home team struggled to get into the game, and Daniel Munoz picked up an early yellow after frustratedly kicking out at Alderete, having seen the Paraguayan skillfully beat his press.

Sunderland had a half chance as Xhaka released Noah Sadiki, who fired over, Palace shot wide through Pino, after Munoz had won the ball through sloppy play from Adinigra, while a poor pass from Alderete gave Palace another sniff.

Possession wise, it was mostly Sunderland, however – Mukilele and Alderete were looking strong at the back, Sadiki, who had an injury scare in the first half, performing the rotation with Reinildo as we saw against Brentford to spring the Mozambique international down the left. Adingra was getting more and more into the game, however the game’s biggest chance came on 36 minutes – and Palace’s Pino should have scored.

Sunderland had possession on the right flank near half way, but Hume conceded possession easily. The ball fell to Kamada, who played Pino in clean through. Roefs advanced, forcing the debutant to take his shot early, and he drilled it wide. Credit to Roefs for being decisive, but it certainly was a let off, and a situation of our own creation.

As half time approached, however, Sunderland regained the control that they’d had for most of the game so far. Adingra, looking bright after a slow start, crossed to Talbi at the back post, who saw his shot blocked, while the ex-Brighton winger forced Henderson to tip the ball over for a corner after his deep cross to Hume at the back post was caught by the wind.

The second half began in frenetic style, and Palace could easily have gone ahead but for a brilliant save from Roefs. Matete was able to get across Mukilele and power the ball towards goal. Roefs blocked the shot, only as far as Pino, who was denied by Alderte throwing himself in front of the ball.

As the rain came down, Sunderland looked to regain control of the game. Talbi – who was showing up well – won a corner, however what was evidently a training ground routine failed to come off as Xhaka wasn’t able to receive the second ball in. Diarra won another corner as Sunderland looked to get the advantage, while from a Mukiele long throw Isidor’s half chance went wide.

As the hour mark passed, it was Sunderland who were in the ascendency in terms of possession, however we’d still not managed a shot on target, so it was no surprise to see new signing Brobbey enter the action, in place of the lively Adingra, with Isidor shifting to the left.

With 20 minutes left, Habib Diarra, who struggled to really influence the game for any prolonged period of time, shot over the bar – but as the clock ticked towards the game’s final stages, Palace sensed a chance to claim all three points. And it was Roefs who made the difference.

On 72, he produced a great save down to his right to tip Kamada’s shot past the post, while on 78, he was able to keep out a close-range Matete effort after the striker once again lost his marker. New signing Geertruidia came on to play in midfield, and Roefs had to make another two good saves – firstly from the impressive deadline day arrival Uche (a colleague of Alderete at Getafe last season) and Kamada. Isidor’s attempted block on Uche as he shot saw Palace complain vociferously post-game that he should have had a penalty, however replays show there was very little in it and Palace were simply trying to deflect their own shortcomings onto the referee.

On reflection, it’s a strange match to sum up. All told, however, it was an excellent point, and a huge positive – albeit with a caveat.

Sunderland turned in a tremendously resolute display – one that was based largely upon retaining possession rather than defending at all costs. We showed good organisation out of possession, and good skill when we had the ball. However, we gave possession away needlessly on occasion and lacked that bit of midfield spark that Le Fee would have provided to create any clear-cut chances.

For their part, Palace will be disappointed as they didn’t perform very well at all – however, a concern for both sides would be that, despite that, Palace still had at least four excellent chances to score, while we didn’t manage a shot on target, despite getting into some decent positions to create.

That’s not to suggest it was all one-way traffic, or we faced ‘the Alamo’ – it wasn’t, and we didn’t. We were the better side for large chunks of the game, the fact of the matter is we ultimately had to rely on our keeper being bang on form to win a point , which just underlines how dangerous top-flight teams can be, even if they’re not on their game.

The biggest positive is this team is still getting to know each other, learn how each other plays, and we’re only going to get better. To be picking up points like this at this stage of the season is brilliant, and as the new additions get further settled in, we’ll see even greater improvements.

And if Brobbey – who struggled to make an impact yesterday – can add an additional attacking dimension to our play, we will see more threat at the other end of the field .

What isn’t in question, however, is that seven points from our first four games is a more than satisfactory haul – and another clean sheet and a point on the road sets us up very nicely for Aston Villa on Sunday.

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