Sunderland’s fairytale has exposed a worrying flaw

They will talk about this trip for years on Wearside. The vibes in sun-bathed Leiria had been immaculate all day from Sunderland fans drinking in their first European away day for 53 years. In the picturesque Rodrigues Lobo Square, the Black Cats staged a full-scale takeover, families and friends embracing and swaying in the Portuguese heat as they revelled in the surreal spectacle of their team playing competitive football on the continent for the first time in a generation. Thank goodness then that a game that threatened to cast a shadow on the revelry eventually blossomed into an “I-was-there” moment. After 93 minutes of toil, Noah Sadiki’s brilliant late blast was the spark for an explosion of joy from Sunderland’s impressive travelling support. It was a collector’s item worthy of the occasion. With two wins from two it gives the Black Cats a perfect start to life in the Europa League. But Regis Le Bris will have known this was a flawed display that only spluttered into life when he summoned the cavalry in the second half. His much-changed starting XI only served to highlight the paucity of options he has in this marathon month. Sadiki was a starter and one of the few of those picked from the outset who enhanced his reputation. Timur Tutyerov, the young Ukrainian forward, was certainly game but there were too many who seemed to think that second tier Portuguese opposition did not require them to get out of second gear. Sunderland’s revelry was dimmed by a poor display (Photo: Getty)It ruined the buzz for the thousands of fans who packed one side of the Estadio Dr Magalhaes Pessoa, the venue picked by Uefa on account of Torreense’s stadium being no bigger than your average National League North ground back home. They had all had to make an effort to be here – expensive planes, trains and automobiles from places like Lisbon, Porto and Faro – but it had the feel of a giant anti-climax during an attritional first half. It was hard to blame Torreense. If Sunderland’s route back into Europe five years after struggling in League One felt like a fairytale, their Portuguese Cup win was Leicester 5,000-1 stuff. They really had no right to be here so packing eight men behind the ball was a justified tactic, helped by hopeless whistle-happy Albanian referee Enea Jorgji. Sunderland’s lack of guile in breaking them down was the problem. Young Tutyerov’s disallowed goal aside, they created next to nothing before the thunderbolt from Volnei Feltes that opened the scoring. It was some goal, smashed from 30 yards over a helpless Robin Roefs. To highlight how freakish it was, Torreense hadn’t actually had a touch in Sunderland’s area before it arrived. Their xG before then was a princely 0.02. Read more Sunderland: Sunderland have a plan to fix their second-season syndrome Mark Douglas: Gary Neville is out of touch on the Man City scandal Le Bris’ side had plenty of the ball but did little with it. Malick Fofana, the £30m signing supposed to highlight Sunderland’s arrival at this level, was especially ineffective as he continued his auspicious introduction to life in England. He is missing conviction. So were Sunderland until Granit Xhaka, Enzo Le Fee and Nordi Mukiele were brought on. All three made the impact that you suspected they would, adding the energy and enterprise that had been sadly lacking before then. It helped that Torreense were tiring and the equaliser brought sweet relief. Mukiele stood a brilliant ball up for Jules Ahoka to head past Lucas Paes and Sunderland’s pressure was relentless. A penalty overturned by VAR and a disallowed goal threatened to ruin the party before Sadiki slammed home to quench the thirst of the away fans for a win to top off a historic few days.