In Sunderland’s remaining fixture of the 2025 Calendar Yr, Leeds United returned to the Stadium of Gentle because the epic 2-2 draw final season that noticed Evan Meslier comically throw one into his personal internet with seconds to spare.
Leeds entered this one as the shape crew within the league, having dismantled Crystal Palace at Elland Street the week prior & Sunderland had been held to a draw on the day, having sustained a number of heavy waves of Leeds strain. How did Le Bris match as much as Farke, and who got here out on prime within the tactical battle?
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Sunderland Line-Up v Leeds
In an eyebrow-raising choice, Dan Ballard sadly missed this one on account of a suspected Achilles harm suffered towards Brighton, and subsequently Dennis Cirkin got here in to interchange him in an in any other case unchanged Sunderland aspect.
Given the absence of Ballard, Mukiele moved inside to companion Omar Alderete, and Hume assumed the function of an orthodox right-back with Cirkin partnering on the other flank. Simon Adingra & Chris Rigg retained their positions on the wings, while Brian Brobbey acted as Sunderland’s focus in assault for Le Bris.
With Daniel Farke’s change to a few central defenders inflicting a reassurance, Sunderland didn’t look to match them up however as an alternative play their very own 4-3–3 in a proactive try to take the sport to Leeds versus seasons prior the place Sunderland might have modified form reactively to the opposition.
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Leeds Line-Up
Daniel Farke retained the identical aspect that ran out as victors towards Crystal Palace in the identical system that has sparked a new-look Leeds United in the course of the festive interval. Leeds utilise their measurement & physicality to place strain on groups on account of their lineup choice & towards Sunderland, this was no totally different.
Leeds play with three central defenders supported by two wingbacks who present their pure positional width, while additionally deploying three central midfielders to retain management over the central third of the pitch, while their two forwards work to run the channels and supply an outlet, and the remainder of the crew pushes as much as assist.
Very a lot a 3-5-2 in possession, which shifts to a static & compact 5-3-2 out of possession, signifies that Farke goals to crowd the central areas and make it tough for groups to play by the strains in midfield. As a substitute, forcing groups to make lengthy diagonal switches with an expectations that their aerial dominance will win the person duels towards opposition wingers and fullbacks.
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While Farke would take into account himself an expansive coach centered on possession & ‘complete soccer’, his efforts up to now this season with Leeds, following their domination of the EFL in 24/25, have struggled to yield a factors return. By leaning right into a extra pragmatic fashion of play and sacrificing his footballing morals, he’s been in a position to unsettle groups and generate a stronger factors return for Leeds.
Unsettling Early Doorways
Sunderland began the sport off brightly and seemed to utilise their winger mismatches towards the huge central defenders of Leeds, with Rigg & Adingra drawing each Pascal Struijk and Joe Rodon out of place to have interaction with them 1v1 and created a number of openings within the first half. Brian Brobbey induced all three central defenders issues at varied factors by switching throughout and profitable his particular person duels to assist maintain Sunderland Stress forcing a number of early lengthy throws and corners. Nordi Mukiele & Adingra each noticed efforts saved or blocked as Leeds had been restricted to countering when Sunderland assaults broke down.
Because the Leeds midfield three had been pinned into their very own half, Sunderland had been in a position to maintain strain and noticed Brian Brobbey shut down Joe Rodon after a free move as a conflict of knees took the Welsh defender down for remedy. With the Welshman clearly struggling, Sunderland attacked down their left and received a throw which Mukiele was in a position to launch in and trigger his typical carnage even within the absence of Ballard.
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Granti Xhaka was in a position to display as soon as once more why he’s topping the help charts for midfielders within the Premier League this season as he whipped a superbly disguised move into Adingra earlier than the Ivorian whipped the ball again throughout Serri’s aim to open his account on Wearside in vogue.
With that help, Xhaka now ties the lead for essentially the most assists from a midfielder this season and locations him in some fairly elite firm for somebody who the surface noise would let you know was past his greatest years when he signed for Sunderland.
Killer Instincts
Sunderland seemed to capitalise on a stumbling Leeds crew and needed to double their benefit earlier than the break, with the opposition being compelled to push on within the hope of an equaliser earlier than the half. Trai Hume was well-placed to disclaim Brendan Aaronson from equalising earlier than Brian Brobbey noticed two guilt-edged possibilities come his method simply because the half was coming to a detailed.
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His first effort got here from a luxurious transfer type Chris Rigg after drifting inside and shaking hello defender in a method that demonstrated a few of the high quality he has for such a younger age, his lofted ball tee’d up Brian Brobbey who’s first time effort squirmed beneath Lucas Perri however with out the acquisition on it that he needed it was cleared off the road as Brobbey hit the deck. Solely a minute later, he noticed a teasing cross reached again submit after a run down the road from Adingra; nonetheless, Brobbey was solely in a position to hit the body of the submit and bar because the ball crashed out.
Brobbey’s two possibilities created an xG of 0.2 & 0.22 respectively and subsequently, with a complete xG of 0.44 generated inside the house of a minute, Brobbey will likely be pissed off he wasn’t in a position to capitalise and doubtless put the sport to mattress earlier than the break.
Leeds Form Change
Following Sunderland’s opener, Joe Rodon went down once more after a second problem with Adingra and compelled Daniel Farke right into a change as he was changed by Ayo Tanaka. Leeds opted to modify formation and returned to their typical 4-3-3 system with Ethan Amapdu sitting within the base of midfield and Anton Statch & Tanaka simply forward of him.
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With Leeds now matching as much as Sunderland from a form perspective, gone had been the central overloads & half areas for Sunderland to take advantage of, and the sport modified fully. With Sunderland’s makeshift midfield missing the same old floor protecting of Noah Sadiki, Geertruida was caught between man-marking & zonally urgent and subsequently Xhaka was dragged all around the midfield, and Sunderland confirmed for it.
Because the second half began, an overzealous press from Dennis Cirkin compelled the rest of the crew to commit and resulted in Xhaka having to cowl on the eventual breakaway, inflicting Calvert-Lewin to walk in between the 2 Sunderland defenders and stage the sport.
It’s value noting that while Cirkin was the one initially out of place main the press, the aim finally comes from Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s means to ghost into the field in an space that Xhaka often patrols and blocks passing lanes, stopping any clear pictures on aim from occurring. On account of Xhaka’s requirement to press the onrushing Aaronson, Sunderland discover themselves uncovered, and inside a minute of the restart, it’s a stage sport.
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Leeds flip the screw
The next 20-minute spell noticed Leeds take management, and in a spell that felt prefer it was by no means going to finish, Sunderland needed to maintain waves of Leeds strain. A miscontrolled contact by Jayden Bogle prevented the guests from discovering a second earlier than a string of tame efforts fell into the arms of Robin Roefs. Sunderland seemingly dwindled on each free ball and misplaced each second ball for a spell, and seemed like they couldn’t get their foot on the ball to sluggish the tempo of the sport down.
Trying on the data above, it’s necessary to notice this within the context of an actual sport versus the numbers which can be seen on-line. A lot has been manufactured from Sunderland overperforming this season; nonetheless, as will be seen, Sunderland truly ranks second within the league for PSxG. To elucidate this briefly, this determine determines the shot high quality that opponents are producing towards Sunderland, and subsequently, a bigger adverse worth signifies that Sunderland’s defenders flip opposition pictures into worse than anticipated possibilities on account of their means to limit/smother/block or strain opposition gamers into taking poor pictures.
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While Sunderland is probably not scoring on the price they’d like, they’re making issues extremely tough for opposition attackers and that may be contextualised in the course of the spell of strain exerted by Leeds in the course of the interval. Regardless of the ball being in play and on the sting of Sunderland’s field for giant swathes, Roefs wasn’t compelled into making any powerful saves and was in a position to command his space effectively to gather incoming crosses with relative ease, which means that for all Leeds positional dominance, they had been unable to interrupt the impasse.
With Sunderland’s unbeaten residence file on the road as we entered 2026, Le Bris welcomed Pep Guardiola’s Manchester Metropolis within the hopes of stopping the in-form juggernauts who had been trying to lengthen their nine-game profitable streak.
Sunderland Line-Up v Manchester Metropolis
In a shock twist, Le Bris opted for a 4-4-2 form on this one as one change noticed Chris Rigg drop out for Eliezer Mayenda. Regardless of being a dangerous technique, Le Bris determined {that a} 4-2-4 system was the best option to nullify the Manchester Metropolis build-up, with the data that Donnarumma isn’t essentially the most snug with the ball at his toes.
In considerably of a daring choice alternative, Le Bris opted to shuffle Geertruida to the fitting again place and caught with a midfield duo of each Granit Xhaka & Enzo Le Fée, of which each gamers had been driving the suspension tightrope of their remaining sport earlier than suspensions had been lifted. Elsewhere, Trai Hume shifted throughout to proper midfield to offer assist on the wing while additionally appearing as an outlet from aerial balls to alleviate strain.
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Man Metropolis Line-Up
Pep Guardiola caught together with his typical 4-1-4-1 formation as Phil Foden, Ryan Cherki, Savinho & Bernardo Silva all rotated in entrance of the only real pivot of Nico Gonzalez, who protected the again 4. With Rodri & Jeremy Doku solely match sufficient to make the bench, Guardiola left himself with reinforcements on the bench if required.
Metropolis utilise the Pep Guardiola philosophy of complete management with an emphasis on lulling the opposition right into a false sense of safety by their relentless passing earlier than slicing by low blocks with ease on account of having the World’s Best Centre Ahead able to dispatch any alternatives once they do come up.
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Stifling the Metropolis Construct-Up
In a tactical battle which Le Bris clearly edged, Sunderland had been in a position to completely nullify Manchester Metropolis’s build-up play by deploying a 4-2-4 press, which restricted Donnarumma’s choices from aim kicks and compelled the Italian shot stopper to pump the ball lengthy at each occasion.
By shaping up man to man towards the Metropolis again 4, Mayenda & Brobbey had been in a position to funnel the strain to considered one of Metropolis’s central defenders earlier than a move again to Donnarumma and disrupted Metropolis’s means to play their typical sport. By putting the entire strain on Haaland to win the lengthy ball, Metropolis had been counting on the Norwegian to retain possession, however on account of his function because the lone striker was mismatched by Alderete & Mukiele throughout their particular person duels.
On the opposite aspect of the ball, Sunderland had been actually intelligent of their means to play by the Metropolis press, which so many groups discover smothering, whether or not they face it residence or away. By dragging Bernado Silva over to 1 aspect of the defence, Roefs was in a position to cut up the strains with a drilled move into Le Fée on the half flip and spring Sunderland out numerous instances within the first half.
Roefs’ calmness on the ball can’t be underestimated with Haaland bearing down on him at each alternative, and a tactical timeout was required by Guardiola on the half-hour to regulate their press, and he confirmed an actual stage of respect to Le Bris for completely outwitting Pep on this one.
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Standing Agency
Sunderland had been topic to Metropolis’s typical method of dying by possession and needed to endure lengthy swathes with out the ball and break once they had the prospect. That being mentioned, the compact form and tactical directions to not interact Metropolis’s wingers till they entered the field labored effectively and prevented Cherki and Savinho from creating any alternatives of actual be aware in the course of the opening half.
Conversely, Sunderland’s menace on the break was evident, and the strike pairing of Brobbey & Mayenda each noticed good possibilities equalled by the Metropolis shot stopper. Following on from the knowledge above relating to PsxG, wanting on the graph under, it’s clear that Sunderland are doing a wonderful job of limiting the opposition to low-quality pictures regardless of the xG statistics.
Particular point out to Robin Roefs, who, regardless of his requirements, had a comparatively snug evening, was in a position to pull off quite a lot of saves as soon as once more and showcase simply how necessary an asset he’s been this season. He now holds the very best save proportion within the league while going through one of many largest complete shot try volumes, which suggests he’s going off a big pattern measurement and it’s not only a wave he’s driving.
Sunderland will really feel that this level was doubtlessly one of the vital necessary of the season psychologically, on account of the truth that we retain our unbeaten residence file, having now confronted all three of the highest three, and having proven a transparent message of intent towards every of them.
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With three consecutive away video games on the bounce, Sunderland will likely be trying to lengthen their type as soon as they return to face Crystal Palace within the league with a full squad following the conclusion of AFCON and doubtlessly some additional incomings.