Could possession obsessed Gus Poyet restrict Manchester City’s chances against Sunderland?

Gus Poyet is trying to introduce a new breed of football at the Stadium of Light (Picture: PA)

Games in the Premier League don’t come much tougher than Manchester City at this present moment.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side have blown their recent opposition out of the water and have managed a staggering fourteen goals in their last three competitive fixtures, conceding just twice.
However, despite the daunting prospect of Pellegrini’s swashbuckling side rocking up at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon, Gus Poyet has remained upbeat and positive in the lead up to the game and, following Wednesday’s cup win over Southampton, you can understand why.
While I was not especially blown away by the game in midweek, which at times resembled more of a training exercise and didn’t really offer much to get pulses racing, there were certainly positive signs for Poyet that his vision for the future was beginning to take root.
Much was made of Gus Poyet’s football philosophy which he painstakingly implemented during his stint at Brighton to much success.
However there were concerns and doubts over whether the current crop of players at his disposal here on Wearside were capable of playing such a patient and possession obsessed tactic.
Wednesday night quelled any such concerns as even John O’Shea was able to suppress his usual desire to punt an aimless ball forward and instead take more care and attention over ball retention and protecting possession.
This was the first real time that Sunderland fans had been able to see Poyet’s preferred system in full swing for an entire ninety minutes and it worked a treat to be honest. Players such as Ki Sung-Yeung and Jack Colback were instrumental to the tactic’s success, spreading the play around nicely in the middle of the park.

Sunderland have looked more impressive in possession under Gus Poyet (Picture: AP)

Another key factor to the success of Poyet’s philosophy was the manner in which his squad relentlessly pinned Southampton back, high up the field when the Saints were in possession of the football.
Manchester City are obviously an exceptionally talented squad with an embarrassment of riches in each and every position and to have any real chance of coming away with anything from the game Sunderland need to restrict the amount of possession they concede to Pellegrini’s side. This is where Poyet’s new tactic could well be key.
Previously Sunderland never really seemed to give much care or attention to possession. We were more than happy at times to cut out the midfield, punting balls to our forward line in the hope that something would either stick or happen. Obviously, as results have clearly indicated, this is not a recipe for success either in the short term or certainly the long term.
We have to be realistic here and expect that there will be the occasions when Manchester City are able to carve us to shreds, they simply have the players that are capable of tearing any defence to bits. However, if we can protect the ball more than we have previously in the Premier League in recent memory then we may just keep the score respectable.