When Chemsdine Talbi slotted the ball into the underside nook of the Chelsea purpose, securing a well-known and morale-boosting early-season away win for the Lads, it got here on the finish of an encounter throughout which we’d proven the entire hallmarks that’ve underpinned our 2025/2026 marketing campaign: dogged dedication, spectacular resilience and iron-clad preventing spirit.
A victory at Stamford Bridge is at all times one thing price shouting about however regardless of Sunderland having fun with a profitable return to the Premier League, it’s honest to say that our overcome the Blues has been the exception quite than the rule with regards to selecting up all three factors away from the Stadium of Mild.
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It’s a evident but fixable concern and for a crew with aspirations of sustained progress, it’s necessary to be truthful relating to weaknesses in our armoury. This doesn’t imply we have to tear the Lads down in the event that they fall brief on the highway, wheeling out drained outdated labels resembling “legal responsibility”, nevertheless it’s necessary to be honest within the closing evaluation.
Don’t get me fallacious: Sunderland have achieved some notable outcomes on the highway this season and we’ve hardly ever if ever regarded out of our depth when travelling across the nation.
A draw at Anfield, a come-from-behind share of the spoils at Tottenham and a 0-0 with final season’s FA Cup winners at Selhurst Park have been very good outcomes, however Saturday’s intriguing encounter with Arsenal — throughout which we competed wholeheartedly earlier than being undone by some moments of Gunners’ high quality — represented the third journey to London in a row throughout which three targets have been conceded and one other event on which the Lads typically didn’t assist their very own trigger.
In equity, we didn’t make the journey to the Emirates with a timid mindset or a meek strategy, and there was no lack of effort from Sunderland’s gamers.
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We clearly went there with the intention of no less than making life troublesome for the hosts — and this was no West Ham-style shambles — however one or two lapses in focus have been taken benefit of, and maybe chasing a comfort purpose was considerably naive given the way through which the third Arsenal purpose took place. Elite opponents aren’t charitable and of their case, the prospect to go 9 factors clear was by no means going to be handed up. Brutal, however that is the place we’re.
It’s in all probability honest to say that a big proportion of Sunderland’s troubles away from Wearside could be attributed to the training course of that the gamers and Régis Le Bris are going via at Premier League stage: the significance of tactical flexibility, minimizing particular person errors, not giving the opposition any simple openings, and so forth.
Though it’s not essentially a “trial and error” dynamic, there’s a sure diploma of belief wanted because the gamers familiarize yourself with it. Often it’ll work and typically it gained’t, however newly-promoted sides hardly ever have all of the angles lined and we’re no completely different.
Changing into a extra harmful travelling facet can be a take a look at of our mentality.
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This season, we’ve seen the facility {that a} raucous stadium can present when the Lads run out at residence, however in numerous environments the place the travelling followers could make up a modest fraction of the gang, can we improvise, adapt and overcome with a view to emerge with one thing to point out for it?
Once more, that’s advantageous and the nice factor is that it offers us a real goal to intention for subsequent season — bettering our away type and bringing it as much as par with how dependable we’re at house is one thing to relish, and given how pushed and motivated these gamers clearly are, why shouldn’t we get it sorted?
This season, there are three away ends in specific which have needled me for a while.
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Our journey to Turf Moor and a loss to relegation-bound Burnley was most positively a missed alternative; we maybe underestimated a Manchester United facet within the depths of Ruben Amorim’s reign of distress at Outdated Trafford, and our last-gasp loss to Fulham after a scrappy purpose from Raúl Jiménez was simply irritating as hell. Three video games from which we should always’ve taken one thing — and on such advantageous margins can league placings swing.
For years, we chased what typically felt like an unimaginable dream of turning the Stadium of Mild into the type of place the place we may thrive and that opposing groups didn’t relish a go to to.
The following stage of the method is to make sure that this proficient group of gamers could be persistently relied on to ship away from residence — and I’ve received loads of religion that they will just do that after some eye-opening experiences on their travels throughout 2025/2026.