RANKED: Which one of Sunderland's six brilliant goals this season is the best?
It has been a strange old season for Sunderland so far, hasn’t it? Consistency has been hard to come by, although maybe that is just what the Championship is.
One thing that Sunderland have done extremely consistently, though, is score brilliant goals. In fact, it’s hard to remember such a flurry of goal of the season contenders. The only other time I can remember a spell like it was the first couple of months under Martin O’Neill in 2012, and that feels like a very long time ago now.
Six goals in particular stand out, so we thought it would be fun to review and rank them.
6 – Jack Clarke, Rotherham (H)
This one is the only goal on our list that was scored at the Stadium of Light, which might lend weight to the argument that Sunderland do their best work on the counter-attack these days.
It is also the only truly individual effort on the list, and what an effort it was too. After receiving the ball from Ross Stewart on the left touchline, Jack Clarke slalomed his way through four challenges before coolly slotting in the bottom corner.
It was some goal, even though you’d have to say that some of the defending was a little half-hearted.
5 – Lynden Gooch, Sheffield United (A)
Amid the veritable plethora of brilliant goals Sunderland have scored this season, it often feels like Lynden Gooch’s strike at Sheffield United gets forgotten.
A lot of that will be to do with the fact Sunderland lost the game, so the goal ultimately meant less than the others. However, it was also in the Alex Neil era, which feels a little tainted now too, so that may also have something to do with it.
It was a lovely strike, though. Ross Stewart played his part before Gooch produced a sumptuous chip to get the ten-man Black Cats back in the game at Bramall Lane.
4 – Patrick Roberts, Reading (A)
That Reading game was brilliant fun, wasn’t it? It looked like it was going to a disaster when Ellis Simms got injured, but Sunderland turned on some serious style to make light of the fact they had no strikers to play off.
Roberts scored two brilliant goals that night, but it’s the second one that has made this list.
There was the counter-attack, the passing, the little dummy to get it to Roberts, and the way he delayed his finish to make the last defender look an absolute amateur was just fantastic. That it is only number four on the list of Sunderland’s best goals in the first 20 games of the season so far is utterly remarkable.
3 – Alex Pritchard, Huddersfield (A)
This one was one of those goals that was so much better than we all first realised. I mean, sure, we all drooled at the one-two between Roberts and Amad Diallo, but not many twigged that the move had started with the goalkeeper.
Bailey Wright’s threaded pass to Ellis Simms was lovely, and from there the play between Roberts, Diallo and Pritchard was just brilliantly incisive football.
It was particularly sweet for Pritchard, who was booed all night at his former club.
2 – Amad Diallo, Birmingham (A)
Quite how the Sunderland fans at St Andrews celebrated Amad Diallo’s goal so noisily is a complete mystery to me, as my jaw was wide open in pure awe.
The quickness of feet, the non-existent back-lift as he struck it, the shape on the ball as it arrowed into the far corner… it was all just so… pretty.
What made it even better was the midfield play from Dan Neil to release Amad in the first place.
1 – Jack Clarke, Reading (A)
We have seen some truly brilliant Sunderland goals in our time, such as Jermain Defoe against Newcastle or Carlos Edwards against Burnley for instance, but they have tended to be down to a moment of inspiration from individuals.
I’d wager that not many had ever seen us score a goal like Clarke’s at Reading, though. From back to front it was outstanding one and two touch football that practically broke social media as the football world rushed to share it.
Any team, at any level, playing on any stage would have been especially proud of it. It was that good.
Which one of these six Sunderland goals was your favourite? Andy how would you rank them? Be sure to let us know on Twitter.