Sunderland 0-1 Real Betis: Instant match report

Phil Smith reports from the Stadium of Light as Sunderland fall to a narrow defeat against La Liga side Real Betis

Transcript

00:00Hi there from the Stadium of Light where it's just finished, Sunderland nailed, Real Betis won,

00:05so Sunderland fall into defeat in their latest pre-season friendly.

00:08No major concern in that in of itself to be honest because this was a pretty good game between two teams

00:14who both looked quite impressive for long spells in possession without creating loads and loads of chances,

00:19especially after a quite frenetic 10 minutes.

00:21Sunderland were just punished for a defensive lapse later on where they switched off from a bit from a corner,

00:25Real Betis took it short, whipped it into the back post where Eitel Rubau had a big advantage on his marker

00:31and headed into the back of the net.

00:33From a Sunderland perspective, the one slight concern, thinking back on the game, would be that they haven't created a great deal of late.

00:39Eliza Miendal looked lively when Sunderland got on the ball in space but they probably didn't do that enough

00:43and that would be the one kind of niggling concern but there's a lot of positives I have to say to take away from the game.

00:49Sunderland looked really comfortable on the ball for long spells and Real Betis never opened them up in open play.

00:53All their chances came from set players and crosses into the box, that was good.

00:56The obvious positive is Robin Roeths didn't have loads to do in terms of saves to make it look tidy on the ball

01:01and playing cross as well.

01:02Reynaldo played in his centre-half because the instant seal wasn't involved and was very, very good,

01:06very composed, defended well, keeps it simple, looks a good player.

01:10And Granizaka was excellent, went straight in as captain as the midfield pivot.

01:14Some of his one-touch passion was excellent.

01:16Played a beautiful ball for a Dingo that would have been a goal if the offside flight wasn't raised.

01:20So, disappointing result for Sunderland, a few attacking concerns but generally speaking,

01:24some solid performances and plenty to be optimistic about, I think, heading into the last phases of pre-season.