Regis Le Bris has publicly backed Anthony Patterson to recover from his recent series of goalkeeping errors, but perhaps now is the time to give him a bit of time out of the firing line.
At the start of this season Patto was regarded as one of the best keepers in the league and was linked with top teams such as Wolves, Celtic and even Liverpool. However, our fans now seem to see him as a bit of a weakness in the team and there are calls to bring in Simon Moore - perhaps not permanently, but at least to give the 34-year-old a run of games.
Modern goalkeepers are mostly judged in three key areas: shot-stopping, distribution and command of the box. Patto is an elite shot-stopper as we’ve seen time and time again. He actually showed that again at the weekend in fairness, with a great save onto the post in the second half. Ironically, if Cardiff had scored in this instance rather than being gifted their earlier goal, this article probably wouldn’t have been written.
His ability on the ball is just “okay”. He’s not the most convincing kicker of the ball and in my opinion, he was exposed badly earlier in the season when he was being asked to clip balls over to the fullbacks or wingers. More often than not, these kicks were heading directly out of play. However, it looks like his kicking game has been simplified with more short passes to the centre backs, and just letting them deal with progressing the ball. Generally, this is acceptable I’d say, if not anything to be celebrated.
That brings us to how he commands (or fails to command) his box. When he made his debut against Wycombe Wanderers, the opposition targeted this area of his game. This was understandable at the time - he was a young lad who had been thrown into the team, there was plenty of time to grow (both literally and figuratively) and until recently, this was not a glaring issue. However, in the past few months it has become a major talking point that Patterson is so reluctant to come off his line, and when he does come for crosses it’s totally unconvincing at best.
Since that game at Wycombe in November 2020, Patterson has become a grown man. He should not be allowing opposing teams to bully him anymore. He’s put on weight since that time (perfectly natural by the way, plus it’s mostly muscle) and he should now be at a stage where he can power through a crowded box and claim a cross. He did this at the start of the season but Leeds, Hull and Cardiff are recent games where this has cost us direct goals and points. Was he fouled against Cardiff? Debatable, but Regis Le Bris admitted that he and his staff “weren’t surprised” when a free kick wasn’t given.
This sudden and significant drop-off, in my opinion, suggests it’s more of a confidence issue than anything. You can see in his media duties that he’s a bit quiet anyway, and maybe a little shy, and recent criticism on social media has probably made him feel even worse than he already did. I think he could really do with a break from this. Regis Le Bris should tell him to go away with his partner and his young child, and give Simon Moore these fixtures up until the international break. Moore has proven himself (in a small sample size) to be an adequate backup, and it’ll give Patterson a chance to get out of his own head and come back from the break in a fresh state of mind.
Sunderland need to head into the play-offs with a bit of momentum and when those final games come, we can’t afford to have anyone in bad form. Especially not our goalkeeper. This wouldn’t necessarily be “dropping” Patterson, you’d just be giving him some time off for his own benefit and letting him come back in mentally refreshed.
