Advertising hoardings dotted around Sunderland are adorned with inviting images of long, sandy beaches and invite visitors to embark on adventures in “our city by the sea”. It is all part of an £80m project designed to reinvent and regenerate the post-industrial riverside area around the Stadium of Light, but West Ham had evidently not bargained for this rejuvenation to extend to the football team.
As the second half unfolded an exhilarating afternoon that exceeded the wildest dreams of even the most optimistic Sunderland fans became not so much an adventure as an ordeal by the North Sea for West Ham. Right from the start a Sunderland starting XI featuring seven debut-making summer signings and only three survivors of May’s playoff final triumph looked quick, agile and extremely nimble footed.
When Habib Diarra, the club record £30m midfielder from Strasbourg, showed off an impressive change of first-half pace as he executed a slick one-two with Eliezer Mayenda, the heart of West Ham’s defence was pierced and Diarra had only Mads Hermansen to beat.
Although West Ham’s £20m goalkeeping buy from Leicester rescued the situation with a decent save, it was clear the hosts would prove no pushovers. And particularly not with Diarra offering fleet-footed excellence and Switzerland’s Granit Xhaka, recently arrived from Bayer Leverkusen, performing a quasi-sweeping role at the base of midfield.
