Anthony Gair says…
The Red and White Army…enough said!
The fans were absolutely magnificent to a number.
Chelsea’s fans must’ve thought they were away from home — properly loud and the only fans to be heard on the telly.
Brian Brobbey plays his part
Is there a stronger man on the planet?
No.
The patience to hold it up and gift wrap that pass for Chemsdine Talbi to do what every professional footballer dreams of — “Tommy Watsoning” one past the world champions to go second in the league — was unreal.
Régis Le Bris delivers once again
I’ll be honest: four minutes in, I was thinking that we’d be lucky not to take a pasting having set up with eleven behind the ball.
But after the initial Chelsea onslaught, we took the game on and in the end showed that Régis is the greatest manager on the planet.
The Lads do us proud
I’d love to say that the performance of individuals won this one, but it was the whole team, wasn’t it?
From Dan Ballard and his heading and passing to Enzo Le Fee’s work rate and pressing, to Granit Xhaka’s graft and constant running, to the subs who came on and changed the setup for the last twenty minutes.
You couldn’t have written this five years ago.
Calum Mills says…
Brilliant Brobbey!
He did his job to perfection when he came on.
He got amongst them, was a handful and held the ball up when he got it to feet in order to bring others into play…and didn’t he do the last part brilliantly?
He held off the Chelsea defender with aplomb and laid off a perfectly weighted ball for Chemsdine Talbi to walk onto.
Chemsdine Talbi — what a moment
I couldn’t be happier for the young man; as I said last week, he’s a game-changer.
I was again surprised to not see him start over Bertrand Traoré, but he made a positive impact off the bench. Great finish from our mercurial Moroccan!
Get up, Geertruida!
He lost the ball in the lead up to Chelsea’s goal but put in a brilliant display at the back after that.
Alongside Dan Ballard, he marshaled the back line and limited Chelsea’s attackers to only a few minor sniffs at goal.
Our defensive additions this summer have been a revelation.
John Wilson says…
Red and white resilience
Not for the first time this season, our resilience was a real strength.
Going a goal down in the first few minutes would surely have seen teams fold like a pack of cards, but not this Sunderland team as they have a belief and a determination to keep going and keep fighting.
Exemplified by the character of Granit Xhaka, they’ve bought into a united resilience.
Superb. So much more than we could’ve hoped for.
Enzo Le Fée impresses again
So many good performances to choose from, but I’m going for Enzo.
His work rate, skill and effort are tremendous, and his tackling and refusal to give up is heart-thumping.
Wins like this can only breed confidence and I’m sure Régis Le Bris will not let standards or concentration drop.
Some slack passing
We’ve seen this a few times already this season, especially away from home.
We give the ball away too many times, inviting pressure. I’m sure we’ll allow some errors but it could bite us one day.
Lars Knutsen says…
Sunderland show their competitive spirit
We took the game to Chelsea for long periods, showing that we were no pushovers in this away game.
The wings, with Enzo Le Fée and Bertrand Traoré/Noah Sadiki, were really important when we were moving the ball forward. Why shouldn’t we play with confidence in difficult away games, even when we go behind to an early goal? This is all very encouraging for our fans — some of whom were very concerned about our survival prospects this season.
With well-worked goals, Sunderland deserved to win and are now in second spot in the Premier League after nine games.
Two well-worked goals
Talbi’s late goal was a magnificent team effort, showing the importance of bringing Brian Brobbey on as substitute.
You could say that long ball out of defence was “route one” but Chelsea were clearly tiring. Brobbey held the ball up magnificently and waited for fellow sub Talbi’s run from his own half to collect the ball and finish with amazing precision.
Nordi Mukiele’s long throw, meanwhile, was an old fashioned but excellent tactic.
It’s important to get the ball into dangerous areas of the opposing box, which is exactly what we did, and it was reassuring to see the way Wilson Isidor twisted to poach the equalising goal. That was true resilience built on confidence.
A soft Chelsea opener
It didn’t matter in the end, but we started with a five-man defence in an attempt to learn from the game at Old Trafford.
The amount of space that Alejandro Garnacho had was inexcusable so early in the game.
Too many corners given away
This may sound churlish after an otherwise outstanding team performance, but there were around nine corners awarded to Chelsea. We defended them well in part, with thanks to Dan Ballard, but the absence of Omar Alderete could’ve been costly.
Who really cares now, though?
Malc Dugdale says…
Isidor is at it again!
After we went one down early on, I confess I was a bit worried but the way we battled and got back into it with a close range finish from Isidor was testament to the spirit in this team.
Yes, it was a scrappy goal and it was from a long throw-created mix up, but Isidor has a canny knack of being in the right place at the right time and him netting that really got us back into the game.
Nine out of tens across the park
From defence to attack, there was barely a man on the park who was less than a 9/10 in terms of performance.
The team collective and the graft and energy we put in…if I had to pick a player of the match, I’m not sure I could do that.
All that with a change in shape and great players like Habib Diarra and Omar Alderete missing, and we still got all three points. Amazing.
Sunderland’s super subs deliver
The contribution from the subs was next level and has to be called out — as does the decision from Régis Le Bris on what to do at what time.
It’s becoming clear as to why we brought in Brian Brobbey as his pace, physicality and strength created that goal, holding off two players and laying off the perfect pass for Chemsdine Talbi to sidefoot it into the bottom corner.
Chris Rigg had a good game too. Everyone did their bit and in the end we simply wanted it more, worked harder for it, and got the reward.
Another Le Bris masterclass!
Who needs possession? Who needs territory?
We were impeccably set up by the boss and we executed the game plan to perfection. Despite all the money, trophies and recent prowess that Chelsea have, we overcame it with elite effort, clinical finishing and a camaraderie that other teams in any league would wish for.
Well done Régis, and well done to the Lads. Second in the league after nine games. What now? Beer. Let’s have a beer…or several!
Nic Wiseman says…
Wilson Isidor scores again
He’s really upped his game this season; a richly deserved reward for all the effort he’s put in.
He loves the club so much and we love him.
Chemsdine Talbi makes his mark
Talbi’s first goal for the club has been coming.
After making last week’s second goal against Wolves, he went one better. The kid gets better and better.
An early setback for the Lads
Régis Le Bris said it was important that we didn’t concede an early goal, but what did we go and do? Concede in the fourth minute. Is that early?
Having said that, what a brilliant recovery. Reinildo was man of the match and the timing of his return was perfect when Omar Alderete was unavailable.
Second in the league!
One thing, though: all the teams we have played are below us!
