Following a dominant show in opposition to winless Wolverhampton Wanderers final week, Sunderland appeared to maintain their momentum going and travelled all the way down to the capital in what was their first return to Stamford Bridge for the reason that fateful ultimate recreation of their final stint within the high flight, ending in Could 2017. Chelsea got here off the again of a midweek drubbing of Ajax within the Champions League, with the hosts scoring 5 on house turf.
Regis Le Bris was capable of pit his wits in opposition to one of many many elite coaches within the Premier League and, by means of some intelligent planning and artistic tactical shifts, was capable of not solely come away from Stamford Bridge with one thing to point out for it, but in addition take a win again to Wearside. How did Le Bris utilise a dynamic form to safe all three factors on the highway on the Bridge?
Sunderland Line-Up
Sunderland’s defence is feeling a bit like a revolving door in the intervening time, with each return from damage/suspension we appear to endure one other, due to this fact Le Bris made two adjustments from the facet that confronted Wolves the week earlier than. One was enforced, as Omar Alderete was required to sit down out underneath the concussion protocol, whereas Reinildo stepped in to take his place following the top of his pink card suspension. Elsewhere Chris Rigg made approach for Lusharel Geertruida to make his first begin following a string of cameo appearances for Sunderland – and whereas it was extensively assumed Geertruida would swap with Rigg, it was in truth Trai Hume who moved right into a extra superior position for this one.
Whereas on paper it appeared like a simple again 5, Sunderland confirmed loads of flexibility, transitioning between 5-4-1 & 4-3-3. In possession, Trai Hume moved right into a midfield position and inverted alongside Granit Xhaka and Noah Sadiki; nevertheless, when out of possession, Hume moved into proper wing-back and fashioned a again 5 when Sunderland wanted to carry form.
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Utilising this tactical flexibility meant that Hume had licence to interrupt shortly and advance into area on the ball – nearly mirroring what Chelsea do on the other flank with Reece James. This supplied an additional physique in midfield to create centralised overloads and formulate these triangles that stay core to Regis Le Bris’ philosophy of attacking with direct patterns of play.
Enzo Le Fée as soon as once more operated off the left and was additionally capable of tuck in and kind a decent midfield block off the ball, however was comfy at taking over positions within the half areas of the left channel extra centrally when in possession, permitting Reinildo to overlap and supply width down the left flank in assault.
Opposition Line-Up
Enzo Maresca rested most of his starters through the midweek recreation in opposition to Ajax so regardless of making over half a dozen adjustments in midweek, solely three gamers got here in from their final Premier League outing in opposition to Nottingham Forest. The £200m midfield pairing of Enzo Fernandes and Moises Caicedo slotted again into their common midfield roles, and former Sunderland cult hero Marc Guiu led the road, permitting Joao Pedro to drop again into his most well-liked place simply behind the striker.
Utilising a reasonably conventional 4-2-3-1 form in possession, Reece James was given licence to invert into midfield whereas each Garnacho and Pedro Neto appeared to carry width and isolate themselves 1v1 in opposition to Sunderland’s fullbacks Reinildo and Mukiele (which turned Hume following Sunderland’s means to drop into their extra compact defensive form).
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Chelsea look to maintain possession underneath Maresca and utilise midfield overloads, including James as an additional midfielder to retain the ball in the midst of the park. By forming a five-man midfield, they’re usually capable of counter-press opponents properly, and stop them from advancing when Chelsea loses the ball within the build-up.
Beginning with intent
Regardless of the exterior narrative suggesting this was to be a routine win for the hosts, we went into this one stage on factors with Chelsea and definitely didn’t look afraid within the opening exchanges. Having discovered from our considerably gradual begins in video games final season, Le Bris has brazenly spoken about approaching the ‘Recreation State’ in a number of smaller intervals, and it’s turning into a development for us this season.
Earlier than we’d even hit 5 minutes on the clock, Traoré flashed a very good ball throughout the field, Ballard had a header saved, and Isidor had an excellent transfer blocked, all whereas Xhaka led the press deep contained in the Chelsea half. Finally, with nice intent usually comes bigger danger – and given Sunderland’s expansive beginning territory within the build-up to Chelsea’s opener objective, we have been in the end undone.
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Nonetheless this set the tone for the rest of the sport.
As famous above, Hume was deployed in a midfield/wingback hybrid position due to this fact his beginning place was a lot greater than anticipated when the ball was turned over, leaving Mukiele remoted 1v1 in opposition to Garnacho for certainly one of just a few occasions through the afternoon which he made us pay and scored the opener.
Nordi’s missile throws
Nordi Mukiele and Brentford’s Michael Kayode have develop into the flagships of ‘Premium Barclays’ by weaponising lengthy throws this season – and after Enzo Maresca’s feedback midweek round Chelsea’s incapability to cope with them successfully, it was solely a matter of time earlier than Sunderland brought on the house group some points searching for a fast response. With the typical variety of lengthy throws taken per recreation up from 1.52 to three.85 since final 12 months, Mukiele has now surpassed the half century mark for lengthy throws already this season simply exhibiting how vital they’re in creating chaos in opposition penalty areas.
Credit score to Bertrand Traoré for his anticipation of the second ball as his shot, whereas solely producing an xG of 0.09 it appeared to be arrowing into the underside nook solely to hit Joao Pedro, Reinildo was nevertheless readily available to divert the ball to Isidor who flicked it in and drew Sunderland again stage.
Sunderland’s dynamic form
With a standard 4-3-3/5-4-1 system, zonal defending stays a core facet of how groups organise their defensive form when out of possession. Nonetheless, given Sunderland’s hybrid form, Lusharel Geertruida was given licence to man-mark Joao Pedro and infrequently aggressively pressed from his line of defense to use strain to the Chelsea ahead throughout his makes an attempt to drop deep and hyperlink up the play.
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In doing this, Mukiele would shuffle inside with Ballard to fill the area vacated by Geertruida after which set off an extra press from Sunderland’s midfield in an effort to entice Chelsea from springing passes between Sunderland’s midfield and defensive strains. By funnelling Chelsea into our bodies by way of the implausible use of Sadiki and Xhaka marshalling the path of play, Sunderland have been capable of shepherd the ball down Chelsea’s proper permitting Reinildo to mop up. On his return he saved Pedro Neto quiet all afternoon by profitable 100% of his Aerial Duels paired with 5/9 of his Floor Duels through the match.
Xhaka led the press in midfield, and our captain as soon as once more stole the present. With a implausible 6/7 floor duels received and 100% aerially the Swiss talisman set the tone for the midfield and didn’t cease hounding every time Chelsea confirmed indicators of complacency. Whereas Noah Sadiki’s floor protection is extra noticeable, each midfielders now rank for essentially the most distances coated for a partnership within the league this season as per the graphic under produced by BBC Sport and Opta.
Regardless of the possession being strongly in Chelsea’s favour, because of the compact form Sunderland adopted all through this one they weren’t actually capable of threaten Sunderland’s objective in any respect through the second half, with solely six touches within Sunderland’s penalty space. The graphic under showcases our common positions all through the match and really a lot reveals that regardless of Hume’s tendency to drop into his line of defense at occasions, he was nonetheless very a lot patrolling as a midfielder for giant parts of the sport.
By urgent as a unit and nearly performing like gamers have been holding palms in a inflexible line, Chelsea weren’t afforded any gaps in behind or between Sunderland’s form and resulted in all of the play occurring in entrance of Sunderland. A willingness to leap out and assault collectively meant that Sunderland have been nonetheless capable of break with pace and complex passing because of the compact nature of the midfield, leaving area for fast interchanges of passes in transition.
Noah Sadiki received 5/6 of his duels with a 90% cross accuracy, and with just one/1 accomplished lengthy balls showcased that Sunderland have been seeking to play brief and quick once they had the prospect to counter. That being stated, Chelsea followers noticed first-hand the tireless work Sadiki places in and resembles a sure French midfielder previously of stated parish. Finishing 4 recoveries, two interceptions and two tackles, Sadiki was as soon as once more on the coronary heart of every part Sunderland did off the ball.
Poetry in Movement
If there ever was an instance of how Regis Le Bris described taking part in in transition when he first joined the membership in 2024, Chemsdine Talbi’s profitable objective personified that completely. With minutes left on the clock, Sunderland have been capable of cowl the size of the pitch with two passes, six touches and all in lower than 10 seconds.
Geertruida’s lengthy ball was completely performed into the channel, Brian Brobbey’s direct power and dominant hold-up play occupied the Chelsea defenders, and Talbi’s beautiful end wrapped up the factors in what can solely be described as true Regis Le Bris trend. Quick, direct, and transitional soccer is what Le Bris described throughout his first few months on the membership, and we noticed that in full show right here.
Up subsequent
With a Monday Evening soccer affair described because the ‘Jordan Pickford Derby’ by Peter Drury on the horizon in opposition to Everton subsequent week, Le Bris will likely be utilising this week of restoration to work on but extra set piece dominance as uncovered by Spurs of their latest journey to the Hill Dickinson stadium. With one other win on the highway achieved, Le Bris has afforded himself some respiratory room forward of the Arsenal recreation the next week and will likely be seeking to capitalise on our house kind in opposition to an Everton facet who’re susceptible to transport objectives this season.
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In an environment which is little question more likely to be charged given the return of David Moyes after the nightmare that was 2016/17, the lads will likely be seeking to make it back-to-back wins and three video games unbeaten as we return to the Stadium of Mild.