Norwich City 0-1 Sunderland: Player ratings as Ba raised on recent showings
Sunderland got back to winning ways in the ever-unpredictable Championship with a fantastic result at Norwich.
The Black Cats came into the game without a win in four, while Norwich were one of the form teams in the division.
However, a beautiful first-half goal from Abdoullah Ba – as well as some superb team defending – saw Sunderland emerge with a 1-0 win and three very valuable three points.
Here is how the players rated.
Sunderland player ratings vs Norwich (4-2-3-1)
Anthony Patterson – Didn’t have much to do but did everything that was needed. Important for him to get a clean sheet. 7/10
Trai Hume – Up against a tricky customer but this was a very welcome return to something like his best form. 7/10
Dan Ballard – Played his part in an exceptional defensive performance. 7/10
Danny Batth – Very tough to imagine a better centre-half performance. Exceptional. 9/10
Luke O’Nien – Outstanding defensively and some entertaining trademark antics as well. 8/10
Dan Neil – Very solid throughout. Fine reaction after a tough couple of weeks. 7/10
Edouard Michut – Very disciplined performance from the youngster. 7/10
Patrick Roberts – Some flashes of quality on the ball, including playing a part in the winner, and a thoroughly tireless display without it. 7/10
Abdoullah Ba – Took his goal exceptionally well and caused plenty of problems for Norwich in t he first half. 7/10
Jack Clarke – As an all-round performance, it’s hard to remember a better one from Clarke this season. His defensive work was absolutely exceptional. 8/10
Joe Gelhardt – Should have scored himself but bagged an assist on the winner. 7/10
Substitutes
Pierre Ekwah – Some heavy touches and some nice stuff as well. Still tough to figure out the Frenchman. 6/10
Lynden Gooch – Brought some vital experience at a crucial point of the game. 7/10
Isaac Lihadji – Nice to see him but we didn’t really get a sense of what he was about. 6/10
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