Sunderland 0-2 Brighton: Substandard Black Cats Beat By Ten-men Seagulls

Sunderland fell to a 2-0 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion after goals from Maxim De Cuyper and substitute Jaouen Hadjam in the Premier League on Saturday, in a substandard performance in defence and attack by Regis Le Bris' side.

Le Bris made multiple changes from the line-up at Manchester City before the international break, seeing Wilson Isidor replace the injured Brian Brobbey with Trai Hume and Reinildo in for sidelined Dan Ballard and full-back Dayann Methalie. 

Sunderland shot-stopper Robin Roefs was called into action within the first eight minutes to make a stellar save after a poor touch from Kevin Danso set Diego Gomez on goal, with his effort stinging the Dutchman’s palms. 

Brighton showed their intensity and intent to press Sunderland high within the early stages, which saw a chance fashioned for Yasin Ayari which was squandered by the Swedish attacker. 

Midway through the first half, a swift and stunning Sunderland move was started with intricate work from Granit Xhaka, who slipped in Enzo Le Fée with the Frenchman’s teasing cross attacked by Isidor, with his effort unfortunately clipping the wrong side of the Seagulls' post.

Thomas Meunier broke into the Brighton box and slipped past Vuskovic with ease, before firing at goal only to see Brighton full-back Ferdi Kadioglu make a mammoth block. 

Ayari continued to probe with a teasing ball across the Sunderland box which was cleverly intercepted by Danso. 

Before the following corner, Meunier went down injured unopposed and was subsequently withdrawn by Le Bris for his Belgian compatriot Malick Fofana in a positive change by the Sunderland boss, but the veteran defender’s injury is yet another potential hamstring problem within the Black Cats squad after Brobbey and Ballard’s knocks. 

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Fofana made an instantly impressive introduction with two defensive contributions off the bench to kickstart another Sunderland counterattack, with Olivier Boscagli picking up the first yellow card of the afternoon shortly after for his cynical foul on the advancing Hume. 

Mukiele fired a long-range effort at Bart Verbruggen’s goal, of which the Brighton goalkeeper spilled before collecting at the second attempt. 

In the last action of the half, Pascal Struijk was afforded far too much time and space in the Sunderland box, which saw his flicked header curl onto Roefs’ post and away to see the clash go into half-time at a goalless stalemate. 

Seven minutes into the second half, Brighton took the lead through a calm finish from Maxim De Cuyper, who was slipped in by Pascal Grob with far too much time to slot low past Roefs for the opener.

Moments later, referee Thomas Bramall was sent to the VAR monitors after failing to blow for a foul on Isidor by Struijk, and subsequently changed his mind and gave the Seagulls centre-half his marching orders for a clear denial of a goalscoring opportunity after a quick review given that the Haitian frontman was baring down on Brighton’s goal. 

From the subsequent free-kick, Xhaka’s strike was deflected and saved well by Verbruggen to keep the visitors ahead after going down to ten men. 

Fofana saw a tame shot on target comfortably claimed by the Brighton goalkeeper, with the rigid and deep Seagulls backline coming under increasing pressure following Struijk’s dismissal. 

Despite chants of his name from the Stadium of Light stands, Le Bris chose not to bring on winger Chemsdine Talbi when chasing the game, leaving the Moroccan starlet’s Black Cats career unclear after his talks over a transfer to the Saudi Pro League late in the summer window. 

With Sunderland searching for the equaliser, Brighton doubled their advantage in added time, with substitute’s Georginio Ruitter and Jaouen Hadjam combining to see the latter net an emphatic goal past Roefs to seal the three points for the Seagulls despite the visitors being a man down for over 30 minutes of play. 

As a result, the clash became Sunderland’s third consecutive Premier League defeat as a back-to-back beating following the pre-break Arsenal loss, and the result was no less than Le Bris’ side deserved for their sloppiness in defence and lack of invention in possession.