Sunderland fan blog: Room for improvement but still plenty of pluses for Tony Mowbray & co

For Sunderland, this was a perfect summary of their current situation as 2023 has thrown its doors open.

After a hectic Christmas and New Year festive period, Sunderland have reached the end of their three-game window, with seven points in the bag, but for Mowbray, this was a narrative with a hint of disappointment.

In their first battle of the new year, Sunderland were massively dominant against Blackpool, after a rather slow start that had them a goal down at the half-time break.

And so, it was this slow start that had left Mowbray frustrated that it wasn’t a perfect start to 2023, but within hindsight, as he says, this proved to be a “good return” for the club.

After all, this is a recently-promoted club with a mid-table ambition back at the very opening of this campaign, but have a tantalising possibility of a top-half finish.

Yet with this frustration, was the added praise from Blackpool boss, Michael Appleton, who described Sunderland as one of the best that’s came to Bloomfield Road this season.

If it wasn’t for a tepid opening to this one, there’s no doubt that the Black Cats would be walking away from the seaside with all three points.

However, this was a depleted (in fact, very depleted) Sunderland side down to their bare bones: illness wiped out a vast proportion of the camp in the break between Wigan and Blackpool, whilst Ellis Simms’ Everton recall and more injury concerns didn’t help Sunderland head coach Mowbray.

So, in an overall review of this latest point on the board, it wasn’t the worst outcome. In the end, the performance was there, but they just couldn’t find another way through.

With an FA Cup third round clash against Shrewsbury ahead at the weekend, it gives Mowbray a chance to rest the team’s regulars, before Swansea visit Wearside in just less than two weeks’ time.

Start as you mean to go on, they say, and by Sunderland’s standards, this wasn’t the worst opening to 2023.