A catalogue of errors at the back saw Brentford succumb to a 3-2 defeat to Sunderland in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup at the Stadium of Light.

Despite making eleven changes from their previous outing against Leeds United, three goals in the space of just 13 minutes for Sunderland saw the Black Cats find themselves 3-0 up inside 39 minutes.

Whilst goals from Callum Wilson and Igor Thiago did install a smidgen of respectability to the scoreline for a Brentford side that had made eight changes themselves, the damage had already been done as Keith Andrews' side were eliminated from the competition after a largely disappointing display on the road.

Starting XI

Hakon Valdimarsson - 2

0 saves, three goals conceded. Pretty much a night where unfortunately nothing went right for him.

Was largely at fault for Sunderland's opener, all over the place positionally for the third and also showed some poor pieces of distribution over the course of the evening.

Michael Kayode - 4

An uncharacteristically poor night for the Italian. 

Gave the ball away far too much and left the back post completely free for Sunderland's third, although his positioning for that was largely impacted by Valdimarsson going walkabouts.

Jannik Schuster - 6 (Man of the Match)

Probably Brentford's brightest spark on the night, even if the the bar was extremely low.

Won a fair amount of duels despite Brentford's shambles at the back and was a calm figure throughout in possession. 

Nathan Collins - 5

Decent in the air and, like Schuster, hard to be blamed too much for Brentford's defensive woes. 

El Hadji Malick Diouf - 4

Brentford's worst outfield player defensively but probably their best going forward.

A shambles at the back, giving the ball away for the first goal and beaten down the wing way too easily by Jocelyn Ta Bi for the second goal, however very good going forward and should've had at least one assist with some excellent crossing setting up numerous chances, including a sitter for Wilson to pull the score back to 3-2 just before half time.

Mamadou Sangare - 5

Quieter than usual. Relatively tidy in possession but didn't break up play as much as he often does off the ball.

Came close to scoring early on, forcing a strong save from Melker Ellborg. 

Vitaly Janelt - 5

Controlled possession but lost a lot of duels off the ball. 

Picked up an assist for Wilson's goal however should've had a goal too, skying a big chance to get the scores back to 3-2 with just over 10 minutes left to play. 

Jaidon Anthony - 6 

A pretty quiet game however was one of the better performers from a bad bunch when he had the ball. 

Produced a good cross in the build up to Wilson's goal. 

Mikkel Damsgaard - 6

Some nice touches on the ball and tidy in possession for the most part, although will have hoped to provide a greater creative spark in the second half as Brentford searched for a route back. 

Callum Wilson - 6

Good at finding himself in the right place at the right time to source two big chances for himself - one of which he took very well, the other he really ought to have converted to bring the scores back to 3-2 heading into half time. 

Probably lacking in the overall game required to make himself a viable starting option to Keith Andrews in the Premier League, but certainly looks a more confident figure in the penalty area than Thiago at this moment in time. 

Igor Thiago - 5

Lost the ball on far too many occasions and nowhere near sharp enough in and around the box for most of the game. Seemed a strange decision given his current form for him to be the only player to play 90 minutes in both of Brentford's last two games.

Improved towards the end, seeing a header cleared off the line before eventually getting on the scoresheet right at the end, albeit with a header that really ought to have been saved by Ellborg, to hopefully restore some confidence as Brentford desperately look for a resurgence of the ruthless, free scoring number nine that spearheaded their push for European football last season. 

Substitutes

Aaron Hickey - 5

Lacked any real attacking threat or quality in the final third from full back as Brentford pursued an unlikely comeback.

Dango Ouattara - 5

Struggled to make any sort of impact. 

Badly miscued a free header at the back post from a corner that should have, at the very least, tested the goalkeeper. 

Mathias Jensen - 6 

Struggled to nail the perfect final ball, both from open play and set pieces, during most of his time on the pitch. 

Eventually delivered an excellent cross to assist Thiago for Brentford's second, albeit too little too late for the Bees. 

Kristoffer Ajer - 6

Had little to do at the back with Sunderland sitting in late on. 

Carried the ball reasonably well and looked fairly comfortable with his passing. 

Kevin Schade - 6

Didn't see too much of the ball, although did well to create a good chance for Thiago whose header was cleared off the line by Luke O'Nien.