Three areas where Man City can exploit Sunderland

Manchester City head up north to the Stadium of Light to face aSunderland side under new management but with just one win all season. That victory came against their bitter rivals, Newcastle United, but Gus Poyet was unable to prevent another defeat the following game against Hull City. Manchester City, on the other hand, are on fire having destroyed Norwich City 7-0 last weekend.

Sunderland aren’t struggling in possession of the ball, as their two previous defeats show. They have misplaced 197 passes in the losses to Swansea City and Hull. A lot of these failed passes came from the goalkeeper, Keiren Westwood, who is constantly trying to send the ball long up-field.

Take this failed Pass Map for the whole Sunderland team and notice how poor Westwood’s kicking is.

Judging from the goalkeeper’s poor distribution, it may be useful for Man City to press Sunderland as high up as possible, forcing the ball back towards the goalkeeper when the Black Cats are in possession. The only possible outcome from this would be Westwood kicking the ball long and giving up possession which would allow City to launch another attack.

Employing a front three to push Sunderland’s defence back would be ideal for City, but that would mean breaking up a winning system, namely one that deploys both Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo as out-and-out strikers, one that has seen City qualify for the knock-out rounds of the Champions League.

Sunderland have also hit just a third of their shots on target in the league this season which is probably down to the fact that they’ve taken a lot of long-range shots in their matches. They’ve hit 52 shots from outside the penalty area, compared to just 26 inside so if City can restrict Sunderland’s shooting to long-range then they should have no worries in defence.

Sunderland’s crossing is quite poor, too. Especially from the right-side of midfield where Adam Johnson operates in the main. This could be another weakness for Man City to expose. If they can force Sunderland out to the wings, their central defenders should have no problem relieving any possible danger.

Gus Poyet has a massive job on his hands to keep this dire Sunderland team in the Premier League. On Sunday, when Manchester City visit, they could be in for another defeat. If Manuel Pellegrini targets the specific weaknesses that the Black Cats have (on a regular basis this season) then the former Premier League champions will have no problems dispatching Poyet’s team.