Sunderland were unable to build upon their impressive thrashing of Millwall last week as they lost out to West Bromwich Albion at the Stadium of Light on Monday night.
Tony Mowbray’s side were hoping to earn another three points to put themselves in Championship play-off contention but came unstuck against a Baggies side who have looked much improved under new manager Carlos Corberan.
Amad Diallo was fouled inside the penalty area in the first half and stepped up to give the Black Cats the lead, but it was a disappointing second 45 minutes from Sunderland as they ended up losing 2-1.
Tom Rogic equalised with an excellent outside-of-the-foot finish before Daryl Dike headed the winner late on to give the Baggies all three points.
One player who disappointed in the defeat was Alex Pritchard, as the former Huddersfield man missed a big chance to put Sunderland 2-0 up, which surely would have seen them earn at least a point from the game.
As per Sofascore, the attacking midfielder earned a shocking 6.3/10 rating for his performance, which was the worst of any player to feature in the game from both teams.
Was Pritchard poor vs WBA?
Along with missing that big chance, which saw Alex Palmer deny him after a clever flick from Ellis Simms, Pritchard also struggled with the ball on Monday night, losing possession 17 times.
Only the two right-backs from either team lost possession more, which emphasises how poor he was technically against the Baggies.
The 29-year-old, who earns £6.7k per week at the Stadium of Light, was bullied by the opposition far too often, winning only four of his 14 duels on the night, with a success rate of just 29%.
While he is usually reliable in attacking positions, boasting five goal contributions so far this term, he also wasted a number of crosses on Monday, completing just three of the seven he attempted, which suggests that he was a big reason why Sunderland weren’t able to build on their lead.
Mowbray will be disappointed that Pritchard couldn’t take that big chance at 1-0, as it proved crucial to the Black Cats eventually losing the game.
