Sunderland upheld their adopted ‘Til the End’ mantra at home against Brentford on Saturday, helping the lads to retain a 100% win rate at the Stadium of Light this season after coming from behind to take all three points away from the Bees. In a game that once again saw a clash of similar playing styles, how did Le Bris utilise positional rotations to his advantage and get the better of Keith Andrews in a game that could become crucial in the relegation fight come May?
Having come off the back of a home
win against Aston Villa a week prior, Brentford were looking to make it two wins in two for Keith Andrews in a system which thrives on attacking in transition; therefore, Sunderland needed to be wary of the blistering pace available to Brentford on the counter during periods of sustained possession.
Sunderland Line-Up
Sunderland were expected to make some changes to the side that faced Burnley a week prior due to injury. Dan Ballard sustained therefore, Nordi Mukiele came in to make his league debut at centre back. Elsewhere Enzo Le Fée was handed his first start of the season after his outing during the week against Huddersfield; however, he was chosen to start on the left wing in place of Simon Adingra to help Sunderland in possession of the ball.
Sunderland deployed their usual 4-3-3 system; however, due to Le Fée’s tendency to pick up space in midfield, they relied on lots of positional rotation in order to form midfield overloads over Brentford and ultimately helped to win the midfield battle on the day. Elsewhere on the pitch, Xhaka continued to anchor the base of the midfield triangle — and as the game progressed, Noah Sadiki made several rotations into this position, which we’ll explore further on.
Opposition Line-Up
Following a tight home win the week prior, Keith Andrews opted to retain the same starting XI that secured victory at the G-Tech Stadium against Aston Villa. Opting for a more conservative 4-2-3-1 system, Jordan Henderson & Yehor Yarmoliuk anchored the midfield and allowed the pace of Kevin Schade & new signing Dango Ouattara to utilise their pace on the counter by making piercing runs through the centre of the pitch.
Leading the line was club-record signing Thiago, looking to increase his goalscoring tally after netting in Brentford’s opening day defeat to Nottingham Forest. Elsewhere new club captain Nathan Collins partnered ex Middleborough defender Van Den Berg at the back for the Bees as they looked to play direct & with pace when Sunderland looked to overcommit in possession.
Positional Rotations Prove Key
During the opening half hour of this one, it was clear to see that there were several positional tweaks deployed by Regis Le Bris to help combat the threat posed by Brentford. Le Fée tucked inside to pick up pockets of space in the left channel, allowing Reinildo to spread wide and form a left wing-back position in possession. Further forward, Diarra pushed into the right channel to occupy Lewis-Potter and gave Talbi & Hume an overload on the right side of the field, which Sunderland were able to exploit several times early on.
By operating essentially an asymmetrical 3-2-4-1 system whilst in control of the ball, Sunderland were able to fashion several early crossing opportunities and apply pressure to the Brentford goal, one which resulted in Kelleher making an awkward catch that bounced back out into the midfield.
By utilising a constant string of positional rotations, Sunderland were able to essentially force the Brentford players to stay extremely vocal and actively pass on rotating runners or instead follow their man and risk dragging themselves out of position. By forming a box midfield as seen below, Sunderland were able to effectively retain midfield control and constantly provided themselves with an outlet to retain possession and assert pressure through control in the middle of the park.
During the opening exchanges, this happened several times, and from my own seat I could see the visual frustration in Henderson’s face as he tried to marshal his teammates into making the correct calls defensively. The lapses of concentration helped Sunderland to settle into the game, and although they were unable to create any clear-cut opportunities, they looked comfortable and settled in only their second league home outing together.
Ronaldo? Reinildo
Despite his best attempts to grapple Nathan Collins into a UFC Submission at various times throughout the afternoon, Reinildo Mandava once again proved to be a shrewd acquisition by the club this summer and made a real difference in that left-back role.
With no traditional winger to help support him in his defensive duties, Reinildo was tasked with marshalling the entire 105x25m portion of the left flank, which contained two electric players for the opposition in Dango Ouattara & Michael Kayode, but did so with ease. Winning 4/5 of his Aerial Duels paired with 6/9 of his Ground Duels, Reinildo worked tirelessly throughout the afternoon and despite the lightning pace of the opposition, was only dribbled past once in the entire game.
Looking at the defensive actions map of Reinildo, not only did he prove to be crucial in Sunderland’s own defensive third, he also provided the width during attacking moves and covered absurd ground during the match, clocking in another mightily impressive 8.2km he was able to provide a burst of pace down the flank on both sides of the ball even late on in the game.
Mukiele Model Performance
As far as first league starts go, Nordi Mukiele gave himself a great introduction to the Premier League with a dominant defensive display against an imposing centre forward in Igor Thiago. Despite not being known for his aerial prowess, Mukiele was a force in the air when paired with Granit Xhaka, going up for duels and saw a 5/8 success rate as well as five headed clearances.
Where Mukiele really stood out was in his ability with the ball on the floor. Winning 4/5 of his tackles, 7/8 of his ground duels (88%) and completed the most passes in the match with 49/55 (89%), which also included a 60% long-ball success rate into the channels and even four passes into the final third after carrying the ball through the lines for Sunderland.
Unlucky not to get on the scoresheet with his early effort, which he smashed over the bar, he’ll undoubtedly be remembered for his reaction to Robin Roefs’ penalty save, which I encourage anyone who hasn’t seen to go back and check out the replay — top job Nordi.
We’ve Got Le Fée…
It would be rude not to mention the outstanding work of Enzo during his first League Start this season after having to feature off the bench in the previous two outings. Deployed primarily off the left but with a clear game plan of linking up inside, Le Fée was dominant in all areas of the pitch. Le Fée was into the action early, making some crunching tackles, finishing the game with a whopping 14 ground duels attempted and a 50% tackle success rate, which is something that’s nothing short of excellent from a ‘flair player.’
Offensively, he linked up play well and formed the inverted triangle that allowed Habib Diarra to advance freely into the forward half-space and gave both Xhaka & Sadiki a bounce pass option as Sunderland looked to retain & recycle possession. Most importantly, he was able to step up and convert the penalty with a cool head to bring Sunderland back into the game and showed his willingness to run right at the death, which resulted in his part to play in the winning goal.
Chance Creation Metrics
One area of slight concern for Sunderland will remain their overall chance creation through the first three games of the season. Whilst it’s to be expected as players begin to gel together, Sunderland have created the joint lowest Open Play xG in the league so far this season at 0.9, which isn’t a sustainable metric for the whole season. This metric appears low due to the fact that headers don’t tend to generate a very high probability chance; therefore, expect to see these numbers increase, paired with the fact that Sunderland have looked to address this with their deadline day signings.
With only 12 shots created in the game and only 1/4 of those hitting the target, Sunderland will want to see more players pulling the trigger in the final third, and therefore both Bertrand Traore & Brian Brobbey both fit the profile of strikers who rank in the top 10% for shot attempts in their respective positions in the Eredivisie for the 24/25 campaign.
Whilst chances in the Premier League come few and far between, it’s never a bad thing to take more shots. When things aren’t quite falling into place in terms of the final pass, it’s a good metric to boost in this league.
Time to Regroup
With the first international break of many now upon us, it’ll provide those new signings who aren’t lucky enough to be selected for their national side (only two of Sunderland’s starting XI) to mix with the new lads which when paired with the boost of returning fan favourites from last season as well as club personality Luke O’Nien, and I’m sure we’ll get to see some great bonding over the next week.
With Crystal Palace up next, the lads will face a tough challenge against one of the few sides that’ve managed to keep two clean sheets so far this season at a raucous Selhurst Park and will look to put right their poor away start to the season in the hope of taking some additional points back to the Stadium of Light to face Aston Villa.
