After ten long years, Sunderland travelled to St James’ Park for the first time since 2015/16 — which saw the game end honours even.
Despite a clear tactical plan to exploit Newcastle’s intense press, news of a Sunderland injury crisis had home fans brimming with confidence — yet despite an early setback, the Lads were able to fight back and claim yet another maximum points haul from a losing position and keep our historic derby streak alive.
With a fresh set of injury worry and late fitness calls
ahead of the game, how did Régis Le Bris pull off a tactical masterclass with a depleted squad and totally outclass the hosts in the process?
Sunderland lineup
With the news before kick-off that none of Sunderland’s injured players were fit enough to make the starting eleven, Le Bris was left with a makeshift defence as four of his preferred starting back five were missing.
It was deemed to be a little too soon for Robin Roefs, therefore Melker Ellborg retained his place in goal. Dan Ballard’s hamstring strain kept him out entirely whilst both Nordi Mukiele and Reinildo were only fit enough to make the bench.
Trai Hume kept his place on his opposite flank, whilst Luke O’Nien came in to partner Omar Alderete and Lutsharel Geertruida making up the back four for Sunderland. Our midfield trio remained the same, with Habib Diarra and Noah Sadiki playing just ahead of Granit Xhaka.
In the forward line, and with injuries to four of five Sunderland wingers, Chemsdine Talbi was the only wide player fit to start and Chris Rigg was shuffled out wide to compensate, with Brian Brobbey leading the line after his own return from injury last week.
Playing in their usual 4-3-3, Le Bris knew he was going to need to look for gaps in behind the ultra-aggressive Newcastle press, therefore ensuring he could trust each of his players to fulfil their roles in this system was key to selection.
Whilst neither Rigg nor Hume were playing in their natural roles, Le Bris had full trust in both players to be able to execute his tactical instructions under immense pressure.
Opposition lineup
Following a gruelling game at the Camp Nou in midweek, Eddie Howe opted to make two changes following his side’s embarrassing exit in the Champions League, as Malick Thiaw made way for Sven Botman and Sunderland’s previous derby day hero Nick Woltemade came into midfield to replace the injured Sandro Tonali.
Newcastle thrive on their ability to press teams high and win the ball in the dangerous areas, therefore Howe has flirted with a front three without a recognised striker in favour of Anthony Gordon leading the press and putting the opposition under pressure.
Whilst it remains a great way to utilise the atmosphere at St James’ Park, it also has its flaws and is something teams have found a way to exploit.
Elsewhere Aaron Ramsdale retained his place in goal whilst seasoned veterans Kieran Trippier and local lad Dan Burn added much-needed experience following their midweek battering.
Joelinton made his first start in a derby this season after missing out in the previous meeting due to hamstring issues, but Bruno Guimarães and Sandro Tonali were both absent, meaning Woltemade dropped deeper to help influence the game.
A early error from ‘Mr Sunderland’
Sunderland started the game on the front foot, with a clear tactical plan to draw Newcastle’s press in order to isolate Brian Brobbey against the hosts’ central defenders. Early passes saw this pay dividends with Brobbey spinning off Sven Botman to get a clear sight of goal — only to be stopped for a shirt pull. Whilst unlucky, the signs were there.
After a nervy few touches, a short goal kick between Ellborg and O’Nien ended in disaster as ‘Mr Sunderland’ himself shanked a clearance into the long limbs of Woltemade, who was able to direct the ball to Gordon for an easy finish to open the scoring.
With only ten minutes on the clock, things looked bad and the fans were quick to make their thoughts known on playing out from the back — but it was all part of a system and it’s important to understand why.
When Sunderland initiated a short goal kick — even though they were going long — the aim was to set the ball live and initiate that high Newcastle press.
When O’Nien received the ball, it was Newcastle’s trigger to advance their midfield forward in their man-to-man press and close up on the taker. By doing so, they moved Joelinton forward and prevented him from doubling up on Brobbey to win the aerial duels when we went direct.
Freeing up Brobbey then presented Lewis Hall and Trippier with a decision as to whether they also pressed man-to-man due to the space vacated by Gordon pressing into our box. This subsequently caused Rigg or Talbi to be left alone as an outlet to run off Brobbey and bypass the Newcastle press.
It’s frustrating to see when things go wrong and I appreciate that playing out from the back isn’t the most appealing sight for North East fans, but sometimes we have to accept that the club feel like the risk-to-reward ratio for playing this system is one they feel is worth the gamble — and we ultimately saw the fruits of our labour in the second half.
Disrupting Newcastle’s press
It’s no secret that Newcastle have become notorious in the Premier League for their high-pressure approach to games at home, with their 625 possessions won in midfield ranking forth in the league behind Brighton, Bournemouth and Manchester United.
Compare this to their Pressure Per Defensive Action (PPDA) numbers and Newcastle find themselves again in the top three within the league.
Whilst playing out from the back would seem an insane suggestion given these numbers, there remains a glaring flaw with doing so.
Newcastle also rank near the top when it comes to goals conceded beyond the eighty-fifth minute at home in the league this season with ten, showing the hosts tire and leave gaps after their frantic start.
With the most points dropped from winning positions at in the league, it also shows that whilst Newcastle start quickly, if Le Bris’ players conserved their energy, there was always going to be a moment to strike late.
Newcastle also operate on a man-to-man pressing system, therefore the midfield trio — particularly Joelinton and Jacob Ramsey — are required to cover tremendous distances in order to keep the press intact whilst also being relied upon to initiate attacks.
Both players covered in excess of 8.5km during the match and having also played the duration against an equally high-intensity opponent in midweek, were likely to tire.
With the ability of both Sadiki and Diarra to rotate with Rigg out wide, Sunderland were able to utilise their positional rotations to drag the Newcastle midfielders into areas of the pitch they didn’t want to be in.
This provided Talbi with space in isolation on the opposite flank for a quick switch, or in the case of Brobbey, to relieve the pressure of being sandwiched between the two lines of Newcastle defence and smothered whenever he went into a duel — of which the Dutch international was involved the most with on the pitch at fifteen.
A coming-of-age display from Chris Rigg
It’s no secret that Rigg grew up with an allegiance that aligned with his father, despite joining Sunderland’s academy at a young age, but with over a decade of immersion and a clear pathway into professional football, it’s safe to say Rigg now calls himself a certified Mackem, as he proudly exclaimed during his post-match interviews.
In a game of such magnitude, it would’ve been easy for the youngster to buckle under the pressure and retreat into his shell, but the youngster stood up to be counted, enjoying an immense game despite being deployed out of position.
He was eager to get involved and despite coming up against England’s best left back in Hall, he made him look amateur. Rigg attempted four tackles 4/4 (100%) and won all five of his ground duels 5/5 (100%) whilst also having 3/3 crosses (100%), 3 shots in the box and created an expected assists of 0.56 within the game.
The youngster also completed four passes into the final third and was 50% with his dribble success, including a great nutmeg on Joe Willock as he skipped past the Newcastle midfielder.
In a game during which Rigg could’ve easily found himself a passenger, he stood up to be counted and although his game time has been limited this season, it’s easy to forget that he’s still growing into his body and has plenty of physical development to come.
Technically, however, he’s shown that he’s got the ability to thrive in a Premier League setting.
Brian Brobbey dominates once again
In a stadium that worships the number nine shirt, there was no better way to silence the crowd than the performance of Brobbey as he put in a true central striker’s display for the ages.
Whilst not the most “sexy” as far as modern football goes, Brobbey was less of a thorn in the side of the Newcastle defenders a more of a saw blade. Three different central defenders struggled to contain the forward in their one- versus-one battles, and Brobbey was able to spin away from Newcastle players on numerous occasions.
Whilst his chances were in isolation, his first effort was self-generated it and took a great block to deny him, whereas his second and third efforts were down to his fantastic movement in the box for someone who’s been excellent at everything apart from his natural finishing this season.
Finishing with a match high xG of 1.06, Brobbey was involved in everything Sunderland did going forward and with thirty one touches in the whole game — including eleven in the opposition penalty area, the most across all Premier League matches — he was crucial to helping relieve pressure at one end whilst causing havoc at the other.
See the movement of the striker to disguise his positioning and allow Le Fée a pass through bodies in order to score the winner. By blindsiding both Timo Livramento and Burn, he was able to find acres of space inside the box and would’ve capped off a wonderful sweeping team move at the first time of asking if not for an instinct save from Ramsdale.
The River Tyne runs red and white!
With Sunderland edging ahead of Newcastle in the overall record at 55/54, the unbeaten record was extended to eleven games and Sunderland haven’t lost on Tyneside for fifteen years and counting.
The three points took us above Newcastle in the table; with 7/9 away from home, our away form is trending upwards and having collected seventeen points on the road, Sunderland have become more than just a one-trick pony and now look respectable both home and away.
With only six points separating us from the true European places but likely only three required to be in the running for any form of European competition, the fight for the top ten is back on.
Despite our injury concerns, Sunderland will have a further three weeks to assess the fitness of Mukiele, Ballard, Le Fée and Roefs in order to ensure they tackle the visit from Spurs — who are fighting to keep their Premier League status alive.
Having now hit forty three points, Sunderland can let out a sigh of relief as any distant fears of capitulation and relegation have been lifted, with the club now aspiring to see how far they can go this season.
