David Moyes began competitive life as a Sunderland manager on Saturday with a 2-1 defeat at Manchester City that felt unjust and unnecessary after his side overcame a bad start to claw their way back into the game. Jermain Defoe yet again showed his class and appetite for goals with a clinical equaliser that seemed likely to win Sunderland a point until Paddy McNair's own goal minutes after the former Manchester United man was sent on as a late substitute.
A narrow defeat to a title-chasing City, one that has been massively strengthened in the early stages of Pep Guardiola's reign, was no disgrace.