Lee Johnson's tactical chance which backfired at Bolton as worrying Sunderland trend re-emerges

Clearly this was the worst of the Black Cats’ heavy losses this season, and it’s a significant concern when 4-0 and 5-1 defeats at Portsmouth and Rotherham respectively don’t represent the lowest point of a hugely contrasting campaign.

There has been a worrying trend in the aforementioned matches, and the way games have run away from the Black Cats has been alarming.

After some of those bruising defeats earlier in the season, head coach Lee Johnson admitted that teams were coming up with a blueprint to beat his inexperienced side.

The strategy revolved around playing with two physical strikers and wing-backs to apply pressure on the Black Cats’ backline, while delivering early crosses into the box.

It’s fair to say Bolton boss Ian Evatt will have studied Sunderland’s weaknesses before this meeting, and his side were well equipped to exploit them.

Down the flanks, Sunderland were once again exposed as wing-backs Marlon Fossey and Declan John provided attacking outlets for the hosts. The pair produced eight crosses between them, with Fossey registering an assist and John completing the scoring.

Four of Bolton’s goals were created by crosses or cutbacks from wide areas, with the home players often quicker to react in the box.

Wanderers’ front two of Dion Charles, who bagged a brace, and Dapo Afolayan were a constant threat, regularly finding space to stretch Sunderland’s centre-backs and pounce on any mistakes.

Before the match Johnson spoke about how Bolton had the highest possession stats in League One, yet it was Sunderland who saw more of the ball here, registering 59 per cent of possession.

The problem was that Sunderland’s defenders were often left on the ball, with Danny Batth recording more touches (94) than any other player on the pitch.

As full-backs Dennis Cirkin and Carl Winchester tried to take up advanced positions, that left the visitors’ centre-backs exposed when they did concede possession, while Sunderland were also outnumbered in midfield.

In hindsight, Johnson’s decision to revert to a 4-2-3-1 formation, after playing with a back three in last weekend’s 1-0 win over Portsmouth, backfired.

As a result, another disjointed away performance became a humiliation.

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