MANCHESTER // In a season of upsets, there has been an argument that the greater wealth of the Premier League's lesser lights has produced a new evenness. Sometimes, however, it is about quality, not equality.
This was not a fair contest. Perhaps given Manchester City's resources, it should not be.
Yet Kevin De Bruyne was a class above sorry Sunderland. It was a reflection of his excellence and of their inadequacies. Acquiring the Belgian set City back £54 million (Dh294m) and, if it is a price few can pay, it seems justified. Three-and-a-half months after his debut, he already has 10 goals and 10 assists for City.
“That is why we bought Kevin,” said manager Manuel Pellegrini after the Belgian scored once and set up two other goals. He is both City’s leading marksman and their most creative player and showed each side to his game in a rout of Sunderland.
Read more: Andy Mitten on the Manchester United supporters that were better than their team deserved
Raheem Sterling and Wilfried Bony benefited from his supply line. Sunderland struggled because of it.
The sole worry for City was a familiar one. As one Belgian provided reasons for optimism, the other offered the greatest cause for concern. After missing eight games with a calf injury, Vincent Kompany’s comeback lasted nine minutes. He ran on and limped off, a substitute who was substituted.
“Not the best news,” said Pellegrini. Kompany will be assessed today. Needless to say, City did not manage a clean sheet without him, Fabio Borini scoring an otherwise irrelevant goal. The match had ended as a contest long before then, curtailed by a combination of Sunderland’s haplessness and De Bruyne’s brilliance.
His blend of pace, expert delivery and an eye for goal was too much for visitors who have now lost their last four games.
“We are slipping back into the danger zone,” Sam Allardyce said. City were three goals up inside the first quarter. Each was an indictment of Sunderland.
Billy Jones was outjumped by Sterling, the 5ft 7ins winger, to head to De Bruyne’s cross. Jordi Gomez was fooled by Yaya Toure before he drilled in a 20-yard shot. Then Sunderland’s aerial frailties were exposed again as Bony climbed above John O’Shea to head in a De Bruyne free kick.
The lamentable Jones contrived to contribute to De Bruyne’s goal, returning the ball to the Belgian after he tried to find Bony, before the Ivorian managed to miss a penalty.
It amounted to a reprieve Sunderland barely deserved. They scarcely defended like an Allardyce side but then this is not really one. Not in personnel – a mid-season arrival has been unable to stamp his mark on the side by making a signing – or in their record.
A connoisseur of clean sheets manages the team with the league’s worst defensive record. Allardyce has switched between a back five, which he abandoned after the concession of two early goals at Chelsea last week, and a four-man rearguard, who floundered horribly at the Etihad Stadium. Answers seem in short supply.
“It is hard to think what my best team is,” Allardyce added. “Everyone has had a chance and they have not done as well as they should. Now is my time to make some big decisions ahead of the January window.”
Reinforcements are required. He was so short of midfielders that the non-scoring striker Danny Graham was pressed into service as an ersatz right winger.
City’s right winger, meanwhile, was the outstanding De Bruyne. It illustrated the gap between teams who could be separated by a division next season.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport