A shocking opening 25 minutes from Sunderland defensively saw them effectively throw away the opening game at Leicester City, as they lost 4-2 at the King Power Stadium having trailed by three goals at half-time.

Jamie Vardy opened the scoring, before Riyad Mahrez added two in seven minutes, the latter of which came from the penalty spot.

Jermaine Defoe pulled one back on the hour mark, before Marc Albrighton sealed the win for the hosts just six minutes later - though the visitors netted a consolation to spark brief hope again in the 71st minute.

Blistering hosts blow Sunderland away

Vardy started the horror show early for Sunderland as he gave the Foxes an 11th minute lead. Defending set pieces was a problem for Dick Advocaat's team all day and in this instance they let Vardy get across the near post of a left-sided free-kick as duly glanced a header over everybody with the ball clipping in off the far post.

Just eight minutes later, the Black Cats were two down courtesy of Mahrez, who netted the first of his brace. Again the defence did not stop the ball from coming into the box as Albrighton had the time to cross from the left, and Mahrez got there first to apply just a faint touch to beat Costel Pantilimon.

Then a pure moment of stupidity from the Sunderland captain Lee Cattermole, who dived in at the feet of Mahrez in the box, left referee Lee Mason no option but to give a penalty. The Algerian international picked himself up and cooly slotted the ball home into the bottom right corner to make it 3-0 before the break.

Foxes well ahead at the break

After a woeful first half performance, things could only get better and in an attacking sense, they did. A glimmer of hope was provided on the hour mark as a nice interchange between Adam Johnson and Defoe led to the latter cooly slotting past Kasper Schmeichel into the bottom left corner.

However, almost immediately Sunderland threw away their lifeline as Albrighton added a goal to his two assists. Various defenders had a chance to clear but though new boy Younes Kaboul got the ball away, it fell straight to Jeffrey Schlupp - who mishit a shot straight to Albrighton who managed to divert it in from point-blank range.

The players kept on plugging away though and first-half substitiute Steven Fletcher made it a two goal game once more with 20 minutes still left on the clock. It was good work down the right as summer signings Adam Matthews and Jermaine Lens combined together, with the Dutchman lobbing over the goalkeeper and Fletcher followed in with his head to make sure.

Sunderland start but suffer defensively

Sunderland actually started the game rather well in the first eight minutes or so, and looked the more likely to get the first goal. Three times Schemichel had to be called upon to keep the Wearsiders out, firstly from Defoe after a good ball in behind from Sebastian Larsson found Lens who turned inside to Defoe but the keeper smothered him at his feet.

Then the Danish keeper produced a fine double save from the resulting corner as Kaboul attacked well and headed it down where Schmeichel parried only as far as Jack Rodwell, but unfortunatley he could only put his header straight back at the keeper.

An outstanding goalkeeping performance

Despite the final 4-2 scoreline, which was kind on Sunderland, the only reason Claudio Ranieri's team did not hit six or seven was because of a number of top draw saves from Pantillimon. The Romanian was frankly oustanding considering his defence left him hopelessly exposed in both halves. 

To highlight just a few of his saves, Mahrez was denied one-on-one by him with his hat-trick beckoning. Set pieces were where he really got to shine as Sunderland allowed the home side plenty of free attempts on goal, with one such instance being Vardy's acrobatic effort in the second-half, which was saved high and well by the former Manchester City keeper.

A number of poor individual performances

No one player can take any credit from this game but especially bad displays came from the entire back-four, as Billy Jones gave the ball away at will, Patrick Van Aanholt was given the run around by Mahrez, and Kaboul and Coates did not play together as a pair properly.

Into the midfield and last season's trio of Rodwell, Cattermole - who was subbed off - and Larsson looked as non-existent as they did in the first half of last season.

With a massive first home game against Norwich City up next, a lot more strengthening will be needed after a shambolic opening day display. 

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About the author
Jamie Joslyn
20 year old sports journalism at Sunderland University, huge Sunderland fan