Phil Smith: I watched Sunderland's disappointing defeat at Craven Cottage and these were my four key conclusions

Sunderland fell to a 1-0 defeat against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

Phil Smith was reporting for The Echo and these were his key conclusions...

Sunderland can have no complaints with result despite referee frustration

Though it took Fulham a little while to get into this game, there could be no doubt that they were by the end fully deserving winners.

Sunderland produced a performance which for the most part lacked the energy and intensity which they have made their hallmark this season, allowing the hosts to control the game with relative ease even if took them until the last ten minutes to finally get on the scoresheet. The final stats tell a sobering story of just how ineffective Sunderland were at both ends of the pitch: Fulham had 24 shots to Sunderland's four, and an XG of 2.16 to Sunderland's 0.17.

The brutal reality for Sunderland is that they are just not good enough as an attacking force at the moment to be this loose out of possession. Understandably and quite rightly the focus following promotion was to avoid the mistakes of recently promoted teams and ensure that Sunderland could be solid out of possession. It has worked a treat so far, but they were opened up with alarming ease throughout the game. This was just a little bit of a reality check all round, and a reminder of the quality of opposition Sunderland are facing. Fulham into this game disappointed with their start to the season and hovering just one point above the relegation zone, but they are a strong, well coached side and had real firepower in attacking areas off the bench. They were both aggressive and composed, attributes Sunderland were lacking.

Playing away from home in the Premier League isn't easy, and especially for a newly-promoted club. There's no major need for panic, here. Sunderland have been a thoroughly committed, resilient team so far this season and that would suggest that this lethargic display was a blip rather than anything more serious. It serves as a reminder that for all this has been an outstanding start to the season, this is still a team in the very early stages of its development and one that has to perform brilliantly to get results. At Craven Cottage they just didn't manage that.

System failure leaves RLB with a big decision to make

It would be both reductive and wrong to put this defeat down purely to Régis Le Bris's decision to stick with the 5-4-1 system that produced some strong results before the international break. Sunderland created more and ceded less both away at Chelsea and at home to Arsenal, underlining the sense that this display was more about the energy and level of individual performances than any major structural issue. Particularly in midfield, Fulham were able to control the contest in a way few have managed against Granit Xhaka and Noah Sadiki.

It's true all the same that Le Bris will have a big decision to make this week as he prepares for the visit of Bournemouth, as Sunderland did look particularly toothless in this game. Whereas at Chelsea they had managed consistently to get an extra body in midfield when they had the ball, whether that was Trai Hume drifting infield or Lutsharel Geetruida stepping up from the back. Here that just didn't seem to happen, and it meant that Sunderland really struggled to build up and control possession for a sustained period. Without much in the way of pace on the break with Sunderland's best dribblers on the bench, it just didn't work. Sunderland did look much better after the break, getting up the pitch and getting more bodies closer to their attacking players, but that promise faded. On home turf there is a strong argument for another midfielder to help Sunderland get up the pitch, which might in term allow Le Bris to get one of his more dynamic wingers into the side. Bournemouth are a superb team not to be taken lightly, so the main priority will be to fix the defensive issues on show here, but Sunderland need to create more moving forward.

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Sunderland should have turned back to their bench earlier

One of the many positives this season is that a deeper squad has enabled Le Bris to be far more proactive with his substitutions, the results of which have been seen in the sheer volume of late goals that Sunderland have scored and the number of points they've recovered from losing positions.

This second half felt like a bit of a rare misstep, with a double substitution from both sides at the exact same time proving to be the key moment of the game. Sunderland's substitutes struggled to get into the contest but Fulham pair Emile Smith Rowe and Samuel Chukwueze were superb, wrestling back the momentum that the Black Cats had started to build in the second half. For much of the last 20 minutes, a goal from the hosts felt largely inevitable. You can understand that Sunderland felt they had a chance of taking what ultimately would have been a positive point and clean sheet back to Wearside with them, but on a day where they created so little it felt like something of a waste that Simon Adingra and Eliezer Mayenda in the end got just a few minutes of stoppage time under their belt.

Brutal bench call is a sign of Sunderland’s growing strength

One thing Le Bris is not short of is options.

That was underlined by Chris Rigg's absence from the squad, despite it being confirmed after that the midfielder was fit and had travelled with the group. Le Bris ultimately decided he wanted another defender on his bench for cover, but there will be more difficult decisions for the head coach in the weeks ahead. AFCON will of course mean major changes are inevitable next month but with Romaine Mundle and Dennis Cirkin now on the comeback trail, Le Bris will be able to shuffle his pack quickly and decisively if there isn't the reaction to this defeat that he is looking for.

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