Dan Ballard reveals Sunderland dressing room response to Enzo Le Fée's penalty and Bruno celebration
Dan Ballard backed Enzo Le Fée after his penalty miss and responded to Bruno Guimarães’ celebration at Sunderland
Dan Ballard insisted Enzo Le Fée required no lifting from his Sunderland teammates after his missed penalty proved decisive during their 2-0 defeat against Arsenal.
Sunderland pushed the Premier League champions throughout a closely contested game at the Stadium of Light and had an opportunity to take the lead from the spot. David Raya denied Le Fée before former Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimarães scored a brilliant opening goal just 120 seconds later.
Bukayo Saka’s late penalty sealed Arsenal’s victory, but Ballard felt the final scoreline did not accurately reflect Sunderland’s performance. “I think we’re extremely disappointed with the result,” Ballard said. “We’re disappointed because we put in a decent performance and really pushed them all the way. It was just small margins in the end that cost us.”
Sunderland entered the game believing they could beat Mikel Arteta’s side and competed impressively against the reigning champions. “We know how great they are, but we really believed we could win this game,” Ballard added. “From the first minute, we showed we’ve got a lot of quality.”
Ballard added after the game: “We turned it into a battle. I think we won a lot of the battles and created some chances. That’s why it’s so disappointing, because we were in the game all the way. The missed penalty is really disappointing. As I say, we could have won it.”
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Le Fée struck his penalty firmly, but Raya guessed correctly and produced an excellent save. Ballard refused to attach any blame to his teammate, instead pointing towards the midfielder’s consistency and importance to Sunderland. “Of course. At the time, it looked like a really good penalty and a really good save. I’ve not seen it back, but it’s one of them.
“He’s hit a really good penalty; it’s just a good save. He’s a magnificent player and turns up for us every week. He’s probably been one of our best performers over the last year, so there’s no blame for him. He stepped up, hit a great penalty and, unfortunately, Raya has just saved it.”
Asked whether Sunderland’s players would rally around Le Fée, Ballard said: “I don’t think we really need to. He’s really professional. We’ll of course get around him, but he’s an amazing player, and we rely on him a lot. He’s a really creative player for us, but he’s mentally very strong. He’s bounced back from much greater things than this in football.”
Arsenal punished Sunderland almost immediately when Bruno fired the visitors ahead. Ballard felt the rapid swing demonstrated the unforgiving margins at the highest level. I know, and that’s why it’s disappointing, because a lot of these games come down to fine margins. Even against the champions, I don’t think it was an easy day for them. I really thought we could have got some sort of result.”
Bruno celebrated by cupping his ears in front of the Sunderland supporters after being booed throughout his return to the North East. Ballard offered a brief response when asked about the Brazilian’s actions. “I didn’t really see it, to be honest,” he said. “I was just disappointed with the goal.”