‘Not happy’: Sunderland players left fuming at what a Southampton player did in the 37th minute

On Saturday, Sunderland suffered a 4-2 defeat away to Southampton in the Championship.Following a 4-2 loss on the road at Southampton on Saturday afternoon, Sunderland has now dropped its past six Championship games; this is the first time the team has done so since 2006.

Due to some careless defending on the first goal, which Stuart Armstrong scored, and a careless foul by Chris Rigg on Ryan Manning, which resulted in a penalty kick for the second, the Black Cats trailed by two goals at the half.

In the 37th minute, Adam Armstrong took the pitch and scored, however it was a contentious penalty kick.

Against Sunderland, Adam Armstrong trips over a Southampton penalty.
On Saturday afternoon, Armstrong scored his 19th Championship goal of the year, but a lot of the Sunderland players think the penalty should have been given again.

The 27-year-old looked to have kicked the ball with his standing foot before it touched his shooting foot as he slid while shooting at Anthony Patterson.

Many Black Cats players were incensed when former Newcastle United striker Armstrong celebrated in front of the away end, prompting protests from Sunderland teammates.

After the break, Romaine Mundle’s attempt deflected into the net for Sunderland, and a Jobe Bellingham screamer brought the Black Cats shockingly back level.

However, Southampton stepped back up and scored two goals quickly through Joe Rothwell to secure a 4-2 victory in the end.

Another plea for improved Football League officiating
There seem to be requests for VAR or at least improved officiating in the English Football League every week.

Although it would have been extremely impossible to determine whether or not Armstrong booted the ball twice, referee Stuart Attwell would have had a clear view of the spot kick. However, after seeing replays, it appeared as though the Sunderland players had a case.

Though it was missed and retaken, the result might have been drastically different if VAR had been able to offer a definitive response.

After that goal, Sunderland appeared to be out of the game, but Mundle pulled one back around the hour mark.

Still, it was going to have been another awful performance all around if not for a lucky deflection and then a magical moment from Bellingham.

The encounter revealed what seems to be bad recruitment decisions made by Sunderland’s owners over the last year or so; Southampton looked confident and well-drilled, especially in the first hour of play, while Sunderland could scarcely keep the ball and offered very little in the way of offensive.

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