Following on from their victory in opposition to Crystal Palace, Sunderland returned to the capital for the third away sport in a row to face a West Ham aspect renewed with confidence following a last-minute winner from Callum Wilson the week prior.
With Granit Xhaka a confirmed health doubt for a minimum of the subsequent fortnight, for the primary time this season Sunderland needed to alter to life with out their captain and it’s secure to say issues didn’t go to plan. How did Le Bris attempt to present a extra expansive setup away from residence and the way did all of it go incorrect on the London Stadium?
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Sunderland Line-Up
With rumours surfacing late on Friday night that Xhaka had picked up a knock throughout final week’s sport in opposition to Palace, suspicions had been confirmed at 11:15am when it was revealed our Swiss captain had suffered some ankle harm and will likely be out for an prolonged interval of rehab.
Within the absence of Xhaka, Le Bris determined to go daring in his workforce choice and picked Eliezer Mayenda to come back in as his alternative for this one. Choosing a extra aggressive workforce choice and form, Le Bris determined to utilise a 4-4-2 system much like his spell in early 2025 with Sunderland within the Championship.
In Xhaka’s absence, the midfield three turned a two as Noah Sadiki and Enzo Le Fée appeared to regulate the center while Trai Hume resumed his hybrid position in the best of midfield/right-back/central midfield relying on the place he was wanted most. Mayenda partnered Brian Brobbey up entrance and shaped a much more attacking line-up than we’re used to witnessing away from residence — a daring transfer by Le Bris.
Opposition Line-Up
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Nuno Espírito Santo was on the helm this time round as Sunderland confronted their second West Ham supervisor of the season, seeking to make themselves the one aspect within the league to go three wins on the bounce following a last-minute Callum Wilson winner the week prior.
Nuno stored the identical aspect together with his newly shaped January strike power of Pablo and Castellanos following their strikes earlier within the window while Jared Bowen and Crysencio Summerville manned the wings for the Londoners.
Sticking with a conventional 4-2-3-1 form, Nuno appears to be compact off the ball and utilises the direct working of his wingers paired with the bodily presence of his forwards to hit groups on the counter while seeking to keep away from leaving gaps to be performed by. Having conceded 44 league targets previous to this one, West Ham have had a notoriously leaky defence this season which has been considerably helped by Nuno; nonetheless, their Achilles heel stays their potential to ship targets at residence.
Beginning with Function
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Given Nuno’s fashion and strategy talked about above, Sunderland had been handed an uncommon quantity of possession from the opening whistle and appeared to say themselves early. Noah Sadiki stung the gloves of Areola within the opening minutes with a half-volley; nonetheless, after that, Sunderland appeared relatively directionless with out their talisman in midfield.
With a plethora of early misplaced passes, Sunderland discovered themselves uncovered on the counter-attack quite a few instances within the opening half-hour and appeared to be on the mercy of each the West Ham wingers each time they broke with the ball. As a result of form of the opposition, each Sunderland full-backs had been edging ahead paired with an extra midfielder in Le Fée, leaving Sunderland successfully 3 v 3 on the break throughout concerted possession.
With West Ham demanding that Sunderland took the sport to them, Le Bris was compelled into adopting a 3-5-2 form in possession leaving successfully each central defenders and Sadiki the one males behind the ball throughout build-up. Pair this with the shortage of Xhaka to assist dictate the play, particularly with the midfielder averaging over 45 passes per sport while finishing probably the most line-breaking passes of any of the Sunderland workforce this season.
Watching the Recreation Slip Away
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Summerville was in a position to open the scoring for the hosts with an emphatic header following a Jared Bowen breakaway which made a idiot of Reinildo on the day. Each full-backs wouldn’t cowl themselves in glory as initially Reinildo couldn’t deal with the trickery of Bowen having been so dependable for us this season, while on the opposite aspect Nordi Mukiele — regardless of his towering measurement — allowed Summerville to run on his blindside and get the leap on the full-back.
Earlier than the half-hour the sport was all however over as a sequence of probing runs from Summerville resulted in Hume dangling a leg for only a second too lengthy permitting Bowen to return the favour and slot residence to see each wingers having scored and assisted for each other. Sunderland had been unable to comprise the barrage and couldn’t maintain an assault for lengthy earlier than Mateus Fernandes crushed the ball past Roefs and wrapped up probably the most disastrous half of soccer thus far this season for the lads.
Form or Personnel?
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While Sunderland made considerably of an enchancment within the second half, in the end the sport state meant that no matter efficiency, West Ham had been much more passive in possession understanding the sport was primarily a formality because the minutes ticked down. The actual query right here although is: was the poor displaying right down to personnel or ways?
While shedding Xhaka is understandably an enormous blow on account of his uncooked potential on the soccer pitch, arguably his largest loss got here within the type of his intangibles. As we noticed when Dan Neil moved from his anchoring position in seasons previous, with out Xhaka orchestrating the sport move from in entrance of his defence, different gamers had been required to power the ball by the traces and resulted in Hume having an uncomfortable afternoon in possession. With solely 15/19 accomplished passes within the first half and a 0% duel success charge he was sadly hooked to alter the form of the aspect and carry out some harm limitation.
Sunderland’s form induced arguably extra points than the shortage of our talisman captain and in some methods, I can’t fault Le Bris for making an attempt one thing extra expansive. Previous to the weekend, Sunderland had solely scored two away targets since December and followers had been calling for a extra aggressive and expansive strategy to taking part in away from residence.
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With West Ham inclined to conceding, it felt like a logical option to experiment with and probably alter Sunderland’s dismal attacking output. In actuality nonetheless, Sunderland produced their second lowest first-half xG of the season away from residence with solely their sport in opposition to Manchester Metropolis on the Etihad producing much less. With just one shot on course and 4 makes an attempt in whole, the form noticed Mayenda typically confused on the place to place himself round Brobbey and a gaping gap between the midfield and attacking traces in build-up.
With Hume inverting on the best and Mundle unable to get any change out of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, having solely 17 touches, no take-ons/dribbles and 4 dispossessions within the first half, issues made for ugly viewing. Sunderland had been forcing assaults by the center and drilled balls into each Brian Brobbey and Mayenda didn’t stick or had been broad of the mark on a number of events.
While it’s a harsh studying curve for Le Bris having tried to catch the opposition unaware of his change in form like he did away to Burnley and Sheffield United final season, the Premier League is a unique beast. I assume we’ll see Le Bris revert to sort in opposition to Burnley and utilise his common system now Diarra appears absolutely match.
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Nice Cameos
While it actually was the epitome of a nasty day on the workplace for Sunderland, optimistic indicators may be taken from the second-half substitutes because the likes of Habib Diarra and Chemsdine Talbi returned to the fold while Dennis Cirkin and Luke O’Nien each put in respectable shifts within the second half.
While Diarra will achieve the plaudits for his marauding run that resulted within the help, Chemsdine Talbi displayed his typical tidiness and ball retention with a 100% move accuracy and a superbly delivered cross for Wilson Isidor to rocket over the bar. With each gamers prone to begin in opposition to Burnley we’re anticipating to see a way more composed attacking show.
Pondering In regards to the Greater Image
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Now that the mud has settled, it’s straightforward to see why and the way issues went incorrect in opposition to West Ham; nonetheless, we’ve bought to recollect the place we’re and the way little Sunderland have suffered a heavy defeat this season. Sat on 33 factors at this level within the season nonetheless stays past expectations and with a possibility to all however verify security in opposition to Burnley, we’ve bought to view the larger image.
Régis Le Bris has performed a implausible job at eking out probably the most he can from an attacking standpoint while remaining as defensively stable as Sunderland have this season so he’s earned greater than sufficient belief from the Sunderland devoted. Let’s write this one off and with every week to get well, go once more on Monday night time.