Team in Focus: Sunderland have a long way to go

Sky Bet League One
Charlton 1 Sunderland 1
James OG 50 O'Nien 2

The story of the match
It was a cliched 'game of two halves' at The Valley, where Sunderland dominated the first period after taking an early lead through Luke O'Nien but were pummelled for much of the second period following an equaliser courtesy of a Reece James own goal.

Both teams will feel they could have won so maybe a draw was the right result, although Sunderland will be kicking themselves for not making more of their perfect start as O'Nien notched a smart cushioned volley following a cross from fellow full-back James.

Aiden McGeady shot over shortly afterwards and Lynden Gooch's effort struck the woodwork while Charlie Wyke's header from the rebound just missed the target. Wyke was also through on goal after intercepting Krystian Bielik's back header but his shot was blocked.

Bielik's long-range dig wide was the best Charlton could manage in the first half before coming out of the traps a different team.

Lyle Taylor quickly helped to bring the hosts level after his attempt was diverted in by James and the pressure was sustained for a good half an hour as Sunderland somehow remained level.

Darren Pratley should have scored from a free header, Taylor had an attempt well saved by Jon McLaughlin and Karlan Grant struck wide from close range when the goal was absolutely gaping.

However, Sunderland nearly nicked it at the death only for substitute Duncan Watmore to blaze over in injury-time as an excellent encounter ended with the spoils shared.

Tactics
Sunderland are a 4-4-2 side under Jack Ross and they used the wings well in the first half against Charlton's narrow midfield diamond, with the full-backs encouraged forward to create overlaps alongside wingers Gooch and McGeady.

Sometimes those overloads out wide were to the extreme as right-winger Gooch often ended up on the other flank with McGeady and James. Charlton had huge problems dealing with it initially and that was how Sunderland's opening goal came about.

Strengths
When the wide players are on song they can be difficult to stop and Wyke gave them a much-needed physical presence up front.

Highly-rated teenager Josh Maja, who has not signed a new contract and may be sold this month, showed a few nice touches and is clearly capable of performing at a higher level.

Weaknesses
The physicality of Wyke is not matched in other areas and Charlton ran all over their midfield for much of the second half.

Central midfielders Dylan McGeouch and Max Power were outnumbered and the screams from the bench for the team to narrow up and become more compact led to confusion in the latter stages.

You need a certain amount of robustness in Sky Bet League One and that may be something Sunderland need to add this month.

Goalscorer notebook
Wyke scored in the EFL Trophy win over Newcastle on Tuesday and the way the team is set up with two wingers should enable the Black Cats to constantly feed the target man with telling crosses.

Maja is a shorter price to bag first against Luton on Saturday but played in a slightly more withdrawn role, doing his best work outside of the box.

Also keep an eye out to see if Watmore starts to get a run of games in the starting 11. He had three shots in his 23-minute cameo.

View from the camp
Ross said: "Our ambition is to finish top of the league and we have given ourselves a platform to do that. I think we’ll look back on this as a good point, a point that we had to work very hard for, and we had to play well for - which I thought we did for periods.

"It’s a little bitter-sweet because we started well and throughout the first half created really good opportunities but we didn’t take them, which gave Charlton the chance to come back in the second half. This is a tough venue and they are a good side."

Prospects
Sunderland are a strange team, better than many of the expected goal ratings which have them as decidedly mid-table but maybe not as good as their fans will have hoped after successive relegations.

The second series of the Netflix doc Sunderland 'Til I die may have a dramatic ending as the Black Cats could be heading for the playoffs, possibly for a repeat of their 1998 final against Charlton which was won by the Addicks on penalties after a 4-4 draw.

Opposition
Charlton are carrying plenty of injuries, particularly in midfield, but improved when they bypassed that area, hitting slightly longer balls up to the impressive Taylor.

Jonny Williams showed some nice touches on his debut from the bench and the Addicks look like top-six material.

Teams
Charlton 4-1-2-1-2: Phillips; Dijksteel, Bauer, Sarr, Solly; Bielik; Pratley, Morgan (Williams 68); Fosu; Grant, Taylor.
Sunderland 4-4-2: McLaughlin; O'Nien, Flanagan, Baldwin, James; Gooch (Watmore 67), McGeouch, Power, McGeady; Wyke, Maja (Maguire 87).

Next three fixtures
Charlton: Shrewsbury (a), Accrington (h), Peterborough (a)
Sunderland: Luton (h), Scunthorpe (a), Wimbledon (h).

Sign up to emails from Racing Post Sport and get all the latest news and tips

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport