Strong response needed after Sunderland's first league defeat of the season

Rough and ready Scouser 3, Cultured and eloquent Frenchman 2.

That was the result at Home Park on Saturday when Wayne Rooney’s Pilgrims (no doubt inflamed by some aggressive pre-match language from their manager that ultimately proved justified) brought our four-game winning streak to a frustrating end in a game in which we took the lead, let it slip, fell behind, came back level and finally succumbed to a late winner from Plymouth.

Plymouth Argyle FC v Sunderland AFC - Sky Bet Championship

For Regis Le Bris it was uncharted territory; a first league defeat in a campaign that started so promisingly, with a new style of high-octane football paying dividends early on but failing to reach the same heights against Argyle, and a couple of costly individual errors that proved our undoing as four straight wins failed to become five.

Naturally, questions flew Saturday night as we reflected on that defeat.

Is this a classic example of ‘typical Sunderland’? Did the international break come at a bad time? Is there some kind of curse that links ‘manager of the month’ titles to defeats after the trophy is awarded?

For me, Saturday’s defeat was not the result of complacency, bad luck with awards, international breaks sapping momentum or a lack of application.

Instead, we simply paid the price for a midfield performance that lacked the dynamism and cohesion we have come to expect this season, a slight lack of authority and conviction in physical exchanges, and a series of defensive errors that cannot become habitual if we are to recover from this defeat, starting with the reception of Middlesbrough on Saturday.

In an open league where even the weakest teams see clashes with Sunderland as a chance to shine and take points, there is always the risk of stumbling, and that is what happened.

All three goals were easy (the first particularly unfortunate as Dan Ballard failed to keep out a volley that hit the bar and went in via an unfortunate ricochet off the Northern Ireland international, and the second and third entirely avoidable) but there was nothing that went wrong on Saturday that couldn’t be fixed, and that’s encouraging.

Eliezer Mayenda did not lack for effort from the start, but was this the kind of game where a more robust and aggressive centre-forward, who relishes the chance to take on opposing defenders, would have been better utilised?

Mayenda will certainly continue to improve and add to his goal tally, but we need to be able to switch attacking positions at times this season, so is Wilson Isidor the man for that? Hopefully the rumours that he is as adept up front as he is on the left wing are true, as placing too much of a burden on Mayenda’s young shoulders could be dangerous.

In midfield, Dan Neil’s return to action hasn’t been what he would have hoped for as it hasn’t quite worked out for the new Lads captain, and it will be interesting to see whether Alan Browne’s experience puts him in pole position to start on Saturday, but it’s not a bad conundrum for Le Bris to face.

Romaine Mundle, meanwhile, continued to build on his form after another lively performance and a well-taken goal. Patrick Roberts’ start was hopefully a sign of things to come, and despite a bit of a drop in form in the second half, Chris Rigg made another Championship game shine, lighting up Home Park with his talent and arrogance in abundance and showing that he can do it indeed on a mild afternoon in the West Country.

Bris, as expected, spoke extremely well after the match.

Enigmatic by nature but calm and collected to boot, it is clear that standards are at the heart of everything he does and he expects his young charges to overcome this defeat and ensure they are ready for Middlesbrough.

Not getting too excited about winning has been one of Le Bris’ hallmarks this season, and the build-up to the Tees-Wear clash will be a good test of the Frenchman’s ability to rally his players, pick them up after a defeat (something I suspect won’t be too difficult, given the exceptional attitude shown by the players so far) and ensure we are mentally wired when Michael Carrick takes his team out onto the A19.

After Middlesbrough, they face tough games with Watford, Derby and Leeds United. As the dust settles on a first league defeat of a new era, this exciting group of players must show they can mark their return to home turf with a win, and I have every confidence they will.