Sunderland headed into the international break having suffered two consecutive defeats in the Premier League to Arsenal and Manchester City.
Sunderland captain Granit Xhaka is ‘sure’ the Black Cats will begin to take points in the Premier League following the international break after two consecutive top flight defeats, which were both tough to take.
Sunderland fell to a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal, Xhaka’s former employers, despite their prideful performance in which Enzo Le Fée’s penalty was saved by David Raya before their dramatic loss at Manchester City last time out.
At the weekend, Man City beat Sunderland 5-3 despite Brian Brobbey’s hat-trick heroics, with the Black Cats punished by Enzo Maresca’s in-form side for several self-inflicted defensive errors.
Despite the historic Europa League victory over Eredivisie leaders AZ Alkmaar coming in between those Premier League defeats, there is a tinge of disappointment at the Stadium of Light heading into the international break that their powerful performances have gone unrewarded with points on the board.
Granit Xhaka during Sunderland's win over AZ Alkmaar (Action Images via Reuters)Granit Xhaka Issues Defiant Sunderland Verdict After Man City Loss
However, Sunderland skipper Xhaka believes that those impressive displays will constitute Premier League points when the next stage of the season gets underway in just under three weeks’ time.
Sunderland currently sit 14th in the Premier League table, with just four points to show from their opening five games, despite some mammoth performances, particularly against top flight title-hopefuls Arsenal and Man City.
Consequently, the Swiss midfield metronome believes that it is only a matter of time before Sunderland start seeing the fruits of their labour when the post-international break run begins with high-flying Brighton & Hove Albion on October 10.
As quoted by the Sunderland Echo, Xhaka said: “We came here, we showed big character, courage, with the ball, without the ball.
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“We took the risk as well; we knew the quality of Manchester City. Yeah, it's a long process what we have in front of us.
"We started last season, we keep going this season, and shame we didn't take anything after scoring three goals.
“But yeah, we take for sure the positive things with us, and the bad things hopefully we can improve after the international break.
"It's a big project behind the scenes as well, and the process is not taking from today to tomorrow.
“You need time, you need players, you need the mentality, you need the freshness, and I think it was a good first weekend with Europe as well, and you can see that we showed big character.
“The players are ready to play every three days, that's the most important thing, and if we continue like this, we will take our points for sure.”
The Sunderland captain added: “There were good things that we can take with us and just to sort the little details better what we did today.
“But I'm very optimistic that the season is still long, and we will take many, many points hopefully."
Manchester City's Elliot Anderson in action with Sunderland's Granit Xhaka (Action Images via Reuters) Sunderland Must Take Positives From Recent Defeats
Although Sunderland took zero points from Arsenal and Man City, there were a plethora of positive factors for Regis Le Bris and his Black Cats squad to take from the consecutive Premier League defeats.
In the Arsenal defeat, Sunderland took the game to the reigning Premier League champions and caused the outstanding Raya to come into action multiple times against the often-impregnable Gunners backline.
At City last time out, Sunderland were outstanding in the attacking sense, with Brobbey and Le Fee connected beautifully on many occasions to cause Maresca’s defenders several issues throughout the afternoon, resulting in the Dutchman’s emphatic hat-trick, which got him off the mark for the campaign.
If Sunderland can combine their trademark resolute defensive structure with their free-flowing attacking play that saw Gianluigi Donnarumma concede three, then Xhaka’s belief should come to fruition for Le Bris’ side following the lengthy international break.
