How Portsmouth's attacking wing-backs caused Sunderland major problems at Fratton Park

After Black Cats boss Lee Johnson tweaked his side’s system to play with two strikers in midweek, his side didn’t adapt well enough to the challenge posed by Pompey at Fratton Park.

Not only were Sunderland caught out by the hosts’ high press which prevented the Wearsiders playing out from the back in awful weather conditions, but they were also caused problems by Pompey’s shape.

Despite a 2-1 defeat at Burton last time out, Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley stuck with the same starting XI in a 3-4-3 system, which allowed his side to apply pressure.

Sunderland struggled to find a solution to the opposition’s tactics, as shown by Figure One, when Bailey Wright received the ball from goalkeeper Thorben Hoffmann but had limited options as he was closed down by four Portsmouth players.

Not only did that create issues for Sunderland’s defenders, but also left forward Ross Stewart short of service, as the Scot was well marshalled by Pompey centre-back Sean Raggett.

The roles of Portsmouth’s wing-backs Mahlon Romeo and Lee Brown were also crucial, as shown by their advanced positions on Figures Two (Brown) and Figure Three (Romeo).

Left wing-back Brown scored Pompey’s second goal when he arrived late in the box, and also assisted the opener for Marcus Harness.

On both occasions, Brown was allowed too much space as Sunderland right-back Carl Winchester was distracted by other opposition players while the hosts created overloads.

For the first goal, Winchester was caught in between Brown and Pompey playmaker Ronan Curtis following a pass to the flank from goalkeeper Gavin Bazanu, before Brown was released into space down the left (Figure Four).

That allowed the wing-back time to deliver a low cross for Harness to convert, after the Pompey forward drifted away from marker Dennis Cirkin.

Like Winchester, Cirkin struggled to deal with the attacking threat posed by Harness and Romeo on the opposite flank.

Sunderland changed their shape to match Portsmouth up in the second half, yet the game had already got away from the visitors at that stage.

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