Sunderland 1 Chelsea 2

AT the half-time interval of Saturday’s home game with Chelsea, Sunderland owner Ellis Short appeared on the touchline to cut a birthday cake celebrating the tenth anniversary of the club’s charitable foundation.

By the end of yet another home defeat, he must have been wondering whether the time is approaching to give something else the chop.

The sporadic cries of “Bruce out” that peppered the closing stages of the Black Cats’ second defeat of the season at the Stadium of Light hardly represented a point of no return, but they were indicative of the mounting discontent that is making the Sunderland manager’s position increasingly insecure.

Lose at home to Stoke City on Sunday, and the abuse is likely to be even more intense.

“I’m as disappointed as anyone, and I can understand people’s tensions with the situation,”

said Bruce, after Ji Dong-won’s stoppage-time consolation failed to disguise the extent of Chelsea’s superiority throughout Saturday’s game.

“That’s where things are and I have to accept it.

“I’ll accept the flak that comes my way. We’ve had a particularly tough start, but we have to stick together. If we do that, I’m convinced we’ll be fine.”

Bruce is right to point out that Sunderland have faced both Liverpool and Chelsea in their opening four league games, as well as tackling a Wear-Tyne derby that was always going to be fraught with potential danger.

However, the problems did not begin at the start of the current campaign, and the club’s record since the turn of the year is a source of considerable embarrassment.

Twelve home matches in all competitions have brought just two victories. One of those came on January 1, so in the space of more than eight months, Sunderland have just a solitary 4-2 success over Wigan to show for their efforts at the Stadium of Light.

Their last four home outings have all ended in defeat, so while losing to a Chelsea side who are rediscovering their verve under Andre Villas-Boas is not in itself too damaging, it feeds into a wider narrative that does not do Bruce or his players too many favours.

“Any time they (the fans) call for the manager’s head, it’s unfair,”

said Titus Bramble, who returned to the starting line-up to partner Wes Brown following Anton Ferdinand’s deadlineday departure to QPR. “The manager has made some great signings. He’s improved things from last season, but it’s going to take time to gel.

“It’s not going to happen overnight. The players are all behind the gaffer. We’ve got six or seven new faces in the team from last season, and even more in the squad, so it’s going to take time to know how the manager wants us to play and the style he wants them to produce.”

A fair assessment, and having allowed Bruce to invest the vast majority of the money that was received from the sale of Darren Bent and Jordan Henderson, it would surely be folly for the club’s board to jettison him now.

That said though, this cannot go on forever and it feels as though a tipping point could be approaching soon. As well as being unhappy at Saturday’s result, Short cannot have been impressed by an attendance that dipped below the 37,000 mark despite the presence of one of the Premier League’s glamour sides.

On the pitch, Sunderland were comprehensively outplayed, and while Chelsea finished with just two goals to show for their efforts, they played much of the second half at a canter.

The hosts’ chief failing was a surprising reluctance to hassle and harry Chelsea’s players, particularly in the first half.

The midfield was supine, with only Lee Cattermole showing any kind of willingness to make a tackle, and the defence stood off both Nicolas Anelka and the hugely impressive Juan Mata, effectively enabling them to do as they pleased.

At the other end of the field, Nicklas Bendtner was a willing enough worker on his Sunderland debut, but the striker lacked support and there was little in the way of linked-up play between midfield and attack.

It remains far too early to judge them, but neither Seb Larsson nor Craig Gardner has provided the kind of regular goalscoring threat they were supposed to deliver.

Larsson’s 12th-minute freekick ended with Bendtner heading over, but that proved a rare first-half attack and Chelsea claimed the lead six minutes later.

Mata’s free-kick hit the outside of the post, Daniel Sturridge recycled the ball into the area, and while John Terry’s first shot was blocked, the Chelsea skipper found the net at the second attempt with the aid of a deflection off Phil Bardsley.

Anelka was denied by a fine save from Simon Mignolet shortly after, before Petr Cech was finally called into action at the other end to keep out Stephane Sessegnon’s smart strike.

The African’s effort was nothing compared with Sturridge’s six minutes after the restart though, with the England Under-21 international, who was preferred to Fernando Torres, doubling his side’s lead with an impudent back-heel.

Raul Meireles’ through ball sent Sturridge clear, and with the ball behind him, he fashioned a back-heeled chip that evaded both Mignolet and the back-tracking Wes Brown.

The visitors took their foot off the pedal after that, and Sunderland claimed a stoppage- time consolation when Ji swept home Bendtner’s flicked pass at the back post.

“The start of the season has not been as good as we could have hoped for,” admitted Bruce.

“We lost the derby, which has upset the apple cart, but we have to stay strong.

“It’ll come our way and we’ll turn it around. I hope we’re ready for the challenge – I’m sure we are.”

MATCHFACTS

Goals: 0-1: Terry (18, drilled home via a deflection off Bardsley after his first shot was blocked) 0-2: Sturridge (51, released by Meireles and fashioned an impudent back-heel chip to beat Mignolet and Brown) 1-2: Ji (90, swept home at the back post after Bendtner flicked on Larsson’s right-wing cross)
Booking: Colback (23, foul)
Referee: Lee Probert (Bristol) – Will not have too many quieter afternoons in the whole of the season 6
Attendance: 36,699
Entertainment: **

SUNDERLAND (4-5-1)

6 Mignolet: Couldn’t have done much with either goal and made a fine first-half save from Anelka
5 Bardsley: Positionally secure, but struggled with some of Chelsea’s movement and offered little in attack
6 Bramble: Justified his recall in place of the departed Ferdinand but never really got on top of Sturridge
5 Brown: Failed to get close enough to Chelsea’s attackers, especially in the first half, and missed the occasional tackle
5 Richardson: Couldn’t really handle the fluidity of Chelsea’s attacking, but gave his all throughout
4 Larsson: A sporadic threat from set-pieces, but couldn’t exert any influence at all from open play
5 Cattermole: The only Sunderland midfielder tackling consistently, but even he was surprisingly subdued
4 Gardner: Played as the most prominent of Sunderland’s midfielders but failed to get into a goalscoring position
4 Colback: Bypassed for long periods as Chelsea’s impressive midfield simply passed around him
5 Sessegnon: A left-midfield role doesn’t play to his strengths, but tested Cech shortly before the break
7 BENDTNER: Held up the ball impressively throughout but might have done better with an early header

Subs
Elmohamady (for Bardsley, 62): Introduced in an attempt to add some energy, but spent most of his time defending 5
Wickham (for Cattermole, 65): Another cameo; another occasion when the youngster didn’t really do anything 5
Ji (for Sessegnon, 81)
Not used: Westwood (gk), Turner, McClean, Vaughan.

CHELSEA (4-3-3): Cech 6; Bosingwa 6, Ivanovic 7, Terry 8, Cole 8; Ramires 6, Meireles 7, Lampard 6; Sturridge 7 (Malouda 62, 5), Anelka 7 (Romeu 79), MATA 8 (Torres 74).

Subs (not used): Hilario (gk), Luiz, McEachran, Kalou.

MAN OF THE MATCH
 JUAN Mata – Andre Villas-Boas’ marquee summer signing is the creative playmaker Chelsea have lacked for so long