In this article we take a look at the Sunderland tackles which got Jose Mourinho marching onto the pitch demanding a red card mid-friendly.
Roma boss Jose Mourinho entered the pitch and demanded a red card be shown during his side’s friendly match against Championship outfit Sunderland.
In what was a bizarre encounter between the Europa Conference League winners and a side who have just been promoted to the English second tier, Mourinho’s Roma side came away 2-0 winners.
But the moment of the match came when Jose stormed onto the pitch to demand a red card be shown to Black Cats player Luke O’Nien.
Around the 40th minute mark, with the game at 0-0, O’Nien was deemed to have put a challenge on Roma player Roger Ibanez, this angered Mourinho and his staff as they entered the pitch whilst Ibanez was being attended to by the medical team.
According to The Mirror, the reason why Mourinho entered the pitch was to demand O’Nien be sent off, something the Sunderland avoided.
Roma vs Sunderland in Albufeira and José Mourinho was not impressed with the English opponents’ aggression. pic.twitter.com/MLaE3D3t6n
— Sean Gillen (@SeanGillen9) July 13, 2022
O’Nien was only showed a yellow card but was eventually substituted to prevent him getting a second booking.
Sunderland showed a stubbornness and great determination as they managed to hold Roma out until the 75th minute. Felix Afena Gyan got the opening goal before midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo added a second in the 85th minute.
The match against Roma was a good test for Sunderland who are preparing for their first season back in the Championship since the 17/18 campaign. Led by manager Alex Neil, the Black Cats will hope to secure safety as the bare minimum.
AS Roma: Svilar, Ibanez (Calafiori 44’), Smalling (Tripi 46’), Karsdorp (Celik 66’), Kumbulla (Faticanti 85’), Zalewski (Mancini 77’), Matic (Bove 46’), Veretout (Darboe 66’), Shomurodov (Volpato 46’), Perez (Zaniolo 46’), El Shaarawy (Afena-Gyan 46’).
Subs not used: Boer, Ivkovic.
Sunderland AFC: Patterson, Gooch ©, Cirkin (Sohna 63’), Matete, Winchester, Batth, O’Nien (Neil 44’), Embleton (Taylor 63’), Diamond (Roberts 76’), Dajaku (Pritchard 77’), Clarke.
Subs not used: Hume, Kelly, Johnson, Ballard, Evans, Carney, Spellman, Richardson.
“I thought that we more than held our own, against a really strong team,” Sunderland boss Alex Neil said.
“I thought tactically we were very good. As it wore on, we changed the team slightly, brought a couple of youngsters on, and that can sometimes imbalance the side a bit.
“When they changed as well, they had fresh legs at the top end of the pitch and we probably dropped a bit deeper than we did in the first half. That then made it harder for the lads at the top end of the pitch to put pressure on the ball.
“We had a good chance to take the lead as well, which unfortunately we couldn’t take.
“And I can assure you, even if it’s just standing in it now, this heat [is tough]. The Roma lads will be much more accustomed to that.
“So to be honest I expected a bit of a drop off towards the end, but I thought the effort and the endeavour of the lads was very good.
“We don’t want to lose any games but I’ve got no complaints at all, to be honest. When you look at when you’re capable of and how you can get to those levels, I thought a lot of the lads reached those levels today.
“It was a great experience for a lot of our lads.
I thought over the course of the game, the heat and their fresh legs [told]. But it was nothing concerning. Fitness wise in particular, I think we’re looking really strong.”
Sunderland were almost reduced to ten men before the break when Luke O’Nien clashed with Ibanez, moments after he’d seen yellow for a crunching challenge on Stephen El Shaarawy.
That saw Jose Mourinho enter the field to remonstrate; the referee swiftly telling Neil to make a sub.
“Well, when you’re given the option of making a substitution or playing with ten men in this heat, I don’t think the latter is going to do anyone any good,” Neil said.“I thought it was a bit of an overreaction for the second one.
“He goes to try to win the header, and he gets a push so his arm naturally goes up. I thought it was accidental, there was no malice in it.
“To be fair, they handled it fairly well [in the end].”
Lynden Gooch said Sunderland need to be ruthless in the Championship this season to avoid the fate that befell them in their friendly against Roma.
“Roma won a European competition only about six weeks ago, so we know they are a top team with top class players,” said Gooch. “It was good to test ourselves against them and I felt we played some good stuff for three-quarters of the game.
“We should probably have scored and gone one-nil up, but that happens when you play top teams – if you don’t punish them then you get punished. It’s going to be like that in the Championship this year, too. We are going to come up against good teams and more prolific teams than we did in League One, so we need to be ruthless.”
Sunderland spent the week training in the heat on the Algarve, playing friendlies against Rangers on Saturday – although that game was abandoned after 45 minutes due to a powercut – and then Roma yesterday. Gooch said: “It’s been a brilliant camp and we have worked really hard.
“We’ve got the lads re-signed that we wanted to, and obviously Clarkey [Jack Clarke] has come back and Dan Ballard has come in as well and he has got to know the lads this week and that’s what it’s all about. It’s been really good to play two top class teams who have both played in European finals last season, so we can’t complain.”
The so called ‘foul’ that made him come on the pitch. And bellow it is a Roma player kicking Jack Clarke off the ball in a friendly (unpunished) pic.twitter.com/J49t3S6Bo6
— ET (@ETayl11) July 13, 2022
Conveniently no replay was shown pic.twitter.com/EEAK1Xplzx
— ET (@ETayl11) July 13, 2022
Gooch said: “I don’t know how much [those missing 45mins against Rangers] will matter. We ended up training and having a couple of extra sessions that we mightn’t have had otherwise.
“There’s nothing we could do about it though. We’ve still got plenty of friendly games and time to catch up on minutes.
“We’ve got another game on Saturday [at Dundee United] when we get home. But it’s definitely a quick turnaround.
“Once we get back we haven’t got long until the start of the season, so it is important that we get those minutes under our belts and concentrate on what the gaffer wants us to do in the lead up to Coventry.”

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