4 out of 6

If you had told me before the season that we would take 4 points from Manchester City this year I might have believed you. If you had told me that same thing 13 matches in to the year I would have called you crazy! But now with the Steve Bruce era in the distant past it seems nothing is impossible for Martin O'Neill's Sunderland team.

On Saturday, Sunderland pulled off an improbable draw at Manchester City. The draw halted City's near record setting home winning streak, and also put the hosts in danger of falling 5 points behind their neighbors Manchester United in the title race. The amazing thing is, Sunderland should have won the match. It took a flurry inside the final 8 minutes that produced 2 goals for City just to draw level with Sunderland. City had more of the possession, and creating more chances at goal, but Sunderland were crisp with the ball and took their chances well. If not for Craig Gardner and Nicklas Bendtner missing decent chances, City may not have been able to come back and earn a draw. I wish Sunderland had finished the job and got all 3 points, but an away point in the EPL is tough to complain about. Seb Larsson admitted after the game that the team was disappointment, but also acknowledged that a draw at City is a fine achievement. With Everton winning Sunderland dropped to 9th in the table, but all in all it was a good Saturday for the lads. Here are a few of my initial impressions of the match.

• With a very injury depleted back 4, Sunderland's back line of Bardsley, Turner, Kilgallon, and Colback did a fine job. Young Colback is proving his value by being able to play well in a number of positions. The only disappointments here are that Kilgallon ran out of gas and had to be subbed out. Bardsley also let Balotelli inside allowing the Italian to score his second goal and bring City back to within one.
• James McClean was outstanding all day today.  I thought he was a bit disappointing against Everton, but he was excellent against City.
• Cattermole looked to be back to his excellent form today. He looked great today and controlled the middle of the pitch.
• Sessegnon and Bendtner both played great today. They worked off each other, created space for one another, and caused havoc for the City backline all day.
• I'm not sure where Seb Larsson fits in to O'Neill's long term plan for Sunderland, but he was outstanding today. He may not be the fastest or most direct winger, but he is often very effective. He drifted more centrally today and I thought did an outstanding job.
• It's hard to watch Sunderland play as well as they did today and then remember how poorly we played against Everton. I know that's how football goes sometimes, but we were so sharp at times today, and Tuesday it looked like non-league competition could beat us.

There were lots of positives to take from today. Hopefully the sting of allowing the late equalizing goals doesn't overshadow the joy of playing well on the road in the EPL. We should be full of confidence as we host Tottenham next weekend. Here's hoping to another bit of Martin O'Neill magic and a win over a top side!

Ha'way the lads!