The Lads’ starting eleven doesn’t miss a beat
The team that started the first half was fantastic to a man.
Granted, they were facing League Two opposition, but York City are ahead of us in their pre-season schedule, having already played one game and defeated League One Barnsley. We know from experience that facing a lower division side isn’t always easy when they’re ahead in terms of the amount of time they have had to build fitness etc.
Enzo Le Fée in particular was brilliant, not looking at all like a player that’s had almost two months off.
He ran the game from start to finish, scoring two brilliant goals and being denied a scintillating third after being called offside. Nordi Mukiele, Chris Rigg and Jocelin Ta Bi also stood out, with young winger Timur Tutierov also performing well and scoring a fantastic goal that was reminiscent of Chemsdine Talbi’s strike at home to Burnley last season.
An intriguing style of play utilised by Sunderland
Sunderland controlled the game, particularly throughout the first half when the first team was on the pitch.
One tactic I noticed repeating itself with some success was an effort to play the ball in behind York’s defence, often picking the space between the full back and centre half for an attacker to run onto, creating opportunities for pull backs, balls across the six-yard box or even shooting opportunities.
Le Fée’s disallowed goal came from this play, as did a saved Reinildo effort and a couple of chances for Tutierov. If this is a tactic we take into the season ahead, we could see Brian Brobbey scoring almost every week — as he showed during the World Cup, these are the exact balls in the box he wants and thrives on.
Following the half time changes, Sunderland didn’t take the initiative quite as much, although barring Simon Moore in goal and the back four, not one player on the pitch had made a professional appearance, with Jenson Jones only making one and Leo Hjelde quickly coming off to be replaced by another without an appearance in Ben Kindon.
The young lads did themselves proud — equally matching a League Two side for the most part is no small feat for lads of their age and experience.
Alan Browne returns —could he have a role to play?
Browne played the ‘Granit Xhaka role’ in the victory, often as the deepest of the midfield trio, and he put in a strong display. In typical Browne, fashion the simple stuff was done to perfection, and there was little flair in the performance but a determination to just get the job done.
Should we fail to bring in a backup for Xhaka this summer, could Browne fill that role?
It remains to be seen if he can replicate this type of performance against Premier League opposition, but an experienced international can’t be a bad person to have around a young squad in a long campaign including European football, right?
Whilst I don’t personally see it happening, it’ll be interesting to see the role Browne plays throughout pre-season once our World Cup stars return.
A five-star attacking display
Who can be disappointed with a five-goal haul? And the standard of the goals was fantastic, with each one having an air of Europa League quality to it.
For the first, there was some brilliant work from Jocelin Ta Bi, working the space to cut the ball back to Le Fée, who produced a cultured finish into the bottom corner.
The second saw some tremendous composure from young Chris Rigg, taking his time after finding acres of space on the edge of the box. Most of us watching would’ve hit this straight away, but Riggy found a way to get into a brilliant position, shift the ball onto his left and find the bottom corner brilliantly.
The way he took it reminded me of his goal away to Luton in 2024/2025, where he took his time to find the perfect opportunity. Hopefully we see a few more goals from Rigg this time around.
The third goal was an absolute screamer from Timur Tutierov.
The Ukrainian looked dangerous all game and found the top corner with a simply brilliant strike — what more can be said? Hopefully a good loan move to a top end League One team awaits Timur this season after promising displays at Exeter City in the second half of last season.
Le Fée rounded off the first half as he started it, with a quick counter attack led by Tutierov, who cut the ball back to Le Fée in space inside the box, who produced a very good left-footed finish past the York City goalkeeper.
The fifth was just as good as the ones before, with excellent footwork from young Charlie Dinsdale to keep the ball in play and beat his man before a producing pinpoint cross that found Tom Proctor, and the son of first team coach and former player Michael made no mistake in heading the ball into the net.
Final thoughts
At the end of the day, pre-season is about building fitness and understanding, and the results ultimately don’t matter, but it’s always nice to start with a good display and a comfortable win.
It was good to see players like Jenson Seelt and Aji Alese complete forty five minutes comfortably after their recent injury woes, with Seelt making a Djed Spence-esque tackle in the sixty fourth minute to deny York a certain goal.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about Leo Hjelde — hopefully his substitution was simply a precaution, as it’s a big summer for our Norse vibesman to find himself a good move elsewhere, with his time at Sunderland looking like it’s coming to an end.
On to the US of A next, where hopefully a few more players join the ranks as they return from their post-World Cup breaks, and a few new signing wouldn’t go amiss either. For now, bring on Liverpool, Leeds and Wrexham as the warm-up to Premier League football continues.
