One Sunderland man struggled more than most during the 0-0 draw vs Bristol City.
On the whole, there were a lot of positives for Sunderland to take from the draw vs Bristol City.
Mike Dodds will have been pleased to see a bit more urgency and defensive quality after the 5-1 defeat vs Blackburn Rovers on Monday.
Sunderland peppered Bristol City’s goal throughout the game; as per Sofascore, the Black Cats had 20 shots with 7 on target, and 57% possession.
Bristol City goalkeeper Max O’Leary made 7 saves in total.
Sunderland fire blank against Bristol City
Several players had chances to put Sunderland in front.
Jack Clarke, Bradley Dack, and Adil Aouchiche in particular had golden opportunities to score, though Sunderland fired another blank.
In seven games under Dodds now, Sunderland have scored six goals, failing to score four of those seven games.
Sunderland have been crying out for some attacking quality in recent weeks, and an unlikely name in Aouchiche has stepped up.
He’s been a key player for Dodds who’s started Aouchiche in the last three games now.
He inspired the 2-0 win at Cardiff City last month but against Bristol City, Aouchiche struggled.
Sunderland Echo rated his performance 5/10, with journalist Phil Smith writing:
“Started really brightly, moving the ball out well to Clarke. Had one good chance inside the box but fired it wide. Struggled to build on that promising opening, losing the ball too often and withdrawn just before the hour mark. Unlucky that O’Leary made a brilliant save to turn his header onto the bar.”
As per Sofascore, the 21-year-old Aouchiche lost possession 19 times (4th-most of anyone), with 13 passes completed out of 22 (59% pass success rate); Aouchiche completed less passes than Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson vs Bristol City.
The Adil Aouchiche conundrum
Aouchiche has endured a fairly mixed first season in England with Sunderland.
The Frenchman has shown definitely quality, with some of his best performances coming in the last few weeks.
Though on Saturday, he summed up what is arguably his biggest flaw; inconsistency.
Aouchiche failed to keep up today after his positive start.
Like Smith writes, he gave away the ball too much, and when playing in that pivotal no.10 role, he really needs to be on his game.
He also should’ve scored, and if Dodds had a player in behind the striker who could’ve picked out a killer pass and put a goal away, Sunderland may have ran away with the win.
Aouchiche remains young and experienced though, so there’s plenty for him to learn and develop going into next season.
Sunderland return to action vs Leeds United on Tuesday night.