Phil Smith: I watched Sunderland's eight-goal thriller with Man City and these were my key conclusions

Sunderland fell to a 5-3 defeat against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Phil Smith was there reporting for The Echo and these were his key conclusions from a remarkable contest…

Sunderland hint at bright future despite frustration of defeat

Leaving the Etihad Stadium, it was quite difficult to work out how this game and performance should be judged. Sunderland had come to one of the toughest destinations in the Premier League, against one of the very best teams in Europe, and produced some exceptional attacking football. They had registered an XG of around 4.5, underlining how much and how quickly they are developing their game in open play.

A number of individuals had excelled, Enzo Le Fée and Brian Brobbey every inch as good as their famed opposite numbers. And yet Sunderland had shipped five, falling to back-to-back Premier League defeats in the process.

What will surely frustrate the Black Cats the most is that Man City’s first two goals were largely self-inflicted, Enzo’s free kick coming after a counter from Sunderland’s own very poorly-executed corner routine. The second came as Kevin Danso played a poor pass out from his own box, lapses that you cannot afford to make at this level and against this strength of opposition.

Those errors made it difficult for Sunderland to retain the strong defensive structure they pride themselves on, forcing them to go chasing and to leave space against an opponent devastating in transition. Praise for Sunderland should not be seen as a slight on Man City, whose finishing was exceptional and whose ability to turn a little bit of space into a big chance was equally impressive.

For the second time in seven days, Sunderland were given a reminder that the difference between good sides and the very best is the ability to seize crucial moments in games.

The frustration with the goals conceded and the end result simply had to be tempered nevertheless by a sense of pride at how far this side has come. A year previous, they had been played off the park here and the loudest cheer of the day in the away end came when Régis Le Bris brought off Granit Xhaka and Noah Sadiki to protect them from suspension in the upcoming derby against Newcastle United. Here, they went toe-to-toe all over the pitch and for large parts were the better side. The future looks very bright, even if that small gap to the bottom three will inevitably mean a few nerves during this long break.

Underwhelming points return deserves to be put in its proper contest

It’s worth noting that if we switch Burnley away for Ipswich away, the equivalent five fixtures that Sunderland have played so far during this campaign yielded just a solitary point last season. Home form was the absolute backbone of their success last season, but so far they’ve only played two league games at the Stadium of Light and one of those was against the champions. It’s undoubtedly been a disappointing start in terms of points aside from a frustrating opening day at Portman Road, Sunderland have played well and demonstrated that their general improvement as an all-round team at the end of last season was no fluke.

This is the Premier League and the fixtures don’t necessarily get any easier, but there’s clear evidence that if Sunderland keep on their current track in terms of performances, they will be in a relatively healthy place when the table begins to settle.

Brian Brobbey shows he is ready to go to the next level

It had been an underwhelming start to the campaign for Brobbey on paper, a big missed chance early against Ipswich Town starting to a four-game league drought. A strong all-round display against Arsenal, however, showed he was finding his top match sharpness and it was striking speaking to players and staff behind the scenes over the past week or so to hear their absolute conviction that the striker would soon be scoring and in big numbers.

Brobbey’s dominance against Ezri Konsa reflected the level they were seeing day in, day out from the striker in training and there is a belief that the player is now on the brink of going to another level. His positioning and poacher’s instinct for his three goals here was encouraging enough, but even more notable was his dominance over Ruben Dias in open play. This was his most complete performance in a Sunderland shirt to date and another reason why despite a tricky start, supporters can feel hopeful that there are good things around the corner.

The Echo has launched a new WhatsApp SAFC Channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates direct to your phone. Simply click this link to join our SAFC WhatsApp channel.

Exhilarating game ends with heartening moment of mutual respect

Perhaps it was inevitable that Erling Haaland would score in this game. He had registered at least one goal against every other Premier League opponent he has faced in his Man City career to date, and to deny him for a third time would have been some feat from Sunderland.

Haaland lapped up the post-match appreciation as he made his way round the Etihad pitch and there was a lighthearted exchange as he made his way past the away end. The exact chant can’t be repeated here, but it would be fair to surmise that the Sunderland fans pointed out they don’t believe Haaland to be as good as their very own Brian Brobbey. Haaland gestured for them to sing louder, before both applauded each other. The striker clearly took it all in good spirits and it was an apt way for such an exhibition of attacking football to draw to a close.

Your next Sunderland read: Brian Brobbey sends clear Sunderland message with club one point above relegation zone