Jan-tastic! Sam Allardyce hails Kirchhoff’s Sunderland debut as one of the best

Kirchhoff, a £750,000 signing last month, was excellent in front of the back four to highlight why Allardyce was so willing to pluck him from Bayern Munich’s reserves with an effective performance to help frustrate title contenders Manchester City.

Manchester City's Kelechi Iheanacho and Sunderland's Jan Kirchhoff battle for the ball 

The German, who can also play centre-back, helped keep Yaya Toure and Co at bay for the majority of the night even though Sunderland were annoyed to have lost another game, this time courtesy of Sergio Aguero’s 16th minute winner.

It was a sign of Kirchhoff’s character that he was able to turn in such a commanding display on his first outing since a horror debut at Tottenham on January 16 when he was brought on as a substitute in the 4-1 defeat at White Hart Lane.

But Allardyce said: “I have to say it was up there with the top performances for any midfield player for any team this season. He did well to last because he hasn't played that many games for Bayern Munich in the last three months. It shows his level of fitness as well.”

Kirchoff’s only other first team appearance this season was as an 89th minute substitute for Bayern in the German Cup win over Darmstadt in December.

And, having fielded him as a centre-back at Spurs, Allardyce is sure he has found the right position for him going into Saturday’s trip to Liverpool.

“Don't you?” said Allardyce. “I don't know anybody who's played as well as that in central midfield this season, for anybody – Everton, Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea or certainly Man City today.

“He played that well they changed to a three and tried to block it up at half-time because we were dominating them. We were dominating because of Jan's quality of passing and his quality of finding space.

“At Schalke on loan he played there. They took him last year and played him in midfield – it was Roberto di Matteo, I think. When we got Lamine Kone we thought we'd put him there in that anchor position. He played a big part in our performance.”

There was also an extremely astute debut for Kone following his £5m move from Lorient. He could have scored an equaliser, but it was the quality of the player’s defensive game which impressed the Sunderland fans.

“The fans will love Lamine, especially after (Yaya) Toure bounced off him!” said Allardyce. “When the fans love you, you hear that atmosphere and it makes you feel good.

“Hopefully we've got a good solid defender on our hands and if he can bring us a few more clean sheets that's obviously going to help.”

Regardless of the performances of Kone and Kirchhoff, the reality is Sunderland lost another game in the fight to fend off relegation. They remain four points shy of safety going into the trip to Anfield, with 14 matches remaining.

Allardyce said: “I think it's the most disappointed I've been since I've been here with the result ending up as it is because we deserved so much more.

“Some of the games we've lost we haven't really deserved anything other than that. We deserved so much more here, which makes it so much more disappointing for us all. But the encouraging thing was the performance.

“Trying to continue to play at that level is going to be the ultimate ask from me to the players. If they continue with that level of performance and the new players continue to show that level of performance we will produce a more consistent level of results.”

But he accepts that time is running out for the Black Cats, particularly considering that they are seven points behind 16th-placed Swansea City.

The Sunderland boss said: “It gets ever harder. It gets closer. I said many weeks ago we didn't have to win, we could have drawn, and picked up a few wins here and there.

“We haven't done that. Today even a point would have been precious for us. It was the least we deserved but we haven't got it.

“To play as well as we did has to be encouraging, even though I feel really gutted. To make more chances than Manchester City – it will hopefully give us more results if we continue at that level.

“It was some missed chances but there were also some top saves from Joe Hart, which showed why he's the England goalie. One chance from Manchester City and they score. It had to fall to (Sergio) Aguero – sadly a deflection put it into his path. I said, 'Unlucky lads, great performance, but not the result we were looking for.”

He added: “It's an undefeated run we need – two wins, two draws. There will be a stage when we get to single figures (games remaining) where we might have to look at the sort of finish we've had for many years, where we've had to string three or four wins together.

“I've been trying not to get to that. But as it comes ever closer it looks like that might be the case. Had the performance brought the victory it probably deserved we'd feel a lot happier and more comfortable, but it's not to be.”