Isidor’s Winner & Mentality
It’s been a great week for Wilson Isidor. Firstly, a new deal to extend his contract to stay at Sunderland, and then he opened his account for the season with a winner fifteen minutes from time. He ran the lines really well, with his and Habib Diarra’s relentless pressing, energy, and running off the shoulder of the Fulham back line causing a myriad of issues for the visitors.
However, what is also equally intriguing and interesting was his post-match interview. Isidor specifically praised the work
he is doing with Annemieke Griffin and his wife back at home. Griffin is the Head of Mental, Cognitive, and Behavioral Performance for the first team and has been specifically working with Isidor on controlling his emotions on the pitch. This is all part of the more holistic approach to performance management as discussed on the site in the summer break.
Emotions are great to have when playing, and Isidor said he himself is a very emotional player. However, these need to be controlled. Just a few minutes before he scored the opener, a similar counter-attack led to him hitting the post from a lovely Enzo Le Fee cross, and while he was at full pelt and the cross was hit at pace, he probably should’ve scored that opportunity. However, he had the mental fortitude to move on from the miss, to control his emotions and slot away his next big chance.
Ironically, the first was probably the better finish of the two – but he got his goal. That was Isidor’s fifth goal as a substitute since the beginning of last season, and no Premier League player has scored more off the bench in that time frame.
Le Bris’ Tactical Changes
The first hour was a pretty tight and scrappy game. I think we controlled more of the game and had more chances than the visitors; however, Fulham for sure had the best of the chances. In truth, we looked quite toothless in attack for large spells (more on this later), but the game changed at the drop of a hat with a double substitution at 65 minutes.
A few minutes before this, Chemsdine Talbi’s name was being sung pretty loudly, with the fans clearly wanting him introduced. Murmurs around me in the Roker End were that Le Bris should replace him with Trai Hume, or Thomas Meunier, and move Hume to right back.
However, what Reggie did probably took everyone by surprise. He brought on Isidor and Diarra for Brian Brobbey and Nilson Angulo, but reshuffled the team into a back three, with Hume moving to right wing-back, Meunier, Nordi Mukiele and Dan Ballard as a trio of central defenders, and Reinildo at left wing-back. Then, Le Fee was moved out onto the left wing from that congested middle, and Diarra shifted right up alongside Isidor.
This took Enzo away from the congested midfield area. Fulham were well set up to limit Brobbey, and the best way to do this is to limit the space around him and isolate him from the rest of the team by playing a high line and camping their two central defenders and midfield pivot directly around Brobbey. Thus, Le Fee also struggled and only really managed a few long shots for the first hour of the game. Fulham, however, were not at all prepared for a total change in style as we stopped playing short and started utilising Diarra and Isidor to run off the shoulder of the defence, turning Bassey and Anderson toward their own goal instead.
It really bamboozled Arbeloa, who struggled to contain us after the tactical switch. Isidor, Le Fee, and Romaine Mundle all had huge chances 1 v 1 after this move, and we looked far more creative.
Toothless First Hour
However, we cannot discuss the win without addressing the elephant in the room – that first hour in front of goal. I thought we started quite lively, but our only shot on target in the entire first half was a tame one from around 20-25 yards out from Meunier. Up until the double substitution, this remained our only shot on target, and our xG was 0.16 overall. After the subs, our xG was 1.83 for that time period alone.
Fulham weren’t much better; they didn’t have a single shot on target all game but did register 0.45xG from that one Josh King chance in the first half. Moving to a more direct style opened up opportunities for us. Generally, last season the more direct we were, the more successful we were in games.
It won’t work in every scenario, but it did yesterday. Fulham were very well organised and disciplined. Iwobi and Berge sat in a deep pivot out of possession and basically limited Le Fee to any space, and every time Brobbey received the ball, Bassey and Anderson would pin him, and this core four made it very hard for us to use our pair up top to play through the lines. Especially with them playing such a high line, designed to stop Brobbey, not worrying about him turning a defender and running in behind.
However, what was frustrating was the lack of width and balance in the system. Nilson Angulo was a bright spark early in the game, but only really ran his marker down the wing twice (beat him both times), and he mostly refused to do it. Almost every time the ball was played out wide, we’d retreat backwards or cut into a very congested midfield area. Likewise on the right, Hume does not offer width as a traditional winger, but to play him here you either need to be playing a big six side away, in which the goal is to mostly defend and limit opportunities, or have Mukiele at right back pushing on and providing that width. In both instances below, the ball went backwards:
We had the space and time to attack down the line, but chose not to. Yet when Sadiki or Le Fee were on the left, they’d run the lines and change up the attack. We require a winger on each side who can regularly beat a man and assist in getting Brobbey into the game. Angulo and Talbi are project wingers who blow hot and cold but have a high ceiling, but I’m not sure either is ready just yet. Angulo just really struggles to beat his man. It may be confidence; he is still settling into the league. Talbi, too, is inconsistent. For every performance at Newcastle away, there’s an anonymous one like last week, and he was uninvolved today despite playing Hume, Angulo, Mundle, Le Fee, Rigg and even Diarra on the wing at times.
Xhaka & Mukiele Masterclass
Nordi Mukiele was my man of the match. He led from the back, took the game by the scruff of the neck. He was the point of difference at 0-0, completing the most defensive contributions in the entire match, with 19. I have seen some suggest he is at fault for King’s chance in the first half, but for me, Ballard gets dragged out of position and jumps on the wrong man, which forces Mukiele to pick up Garcia before adjusting. King is Reinildo’s man, and he runs across the box without being tracked. It was poor all round. For what it’s worth, Ballard looked out of sorts and unfit in the first half but responded well in the second with a solid performance.
However, Xhaka also oozed class in midfield. He completed 93% of his 58 passes on the day, created four chances, including two big chances, 17 line-breaking passes, and 14 into the final third. 12/15 of his long balls were accurate, and he also notched 0.7xA and seven defensive contributions. He was excellent.
We need to work on many aspects, and a victory like this is something Reggie will relish. We got the three points that mattered most, but it also raises a lot of concerns that he can work on next week in training. We need three signings (two wingers and a LCB) and need to work on our creativity and ability to break an opponent down when dominating possession. Just look below; there is a correlation that we are far more dangerous the less of the ball we see.
I also wanted to reserve some praise for This is Wearside, and all those at the club who assist in making their displays possible. The tribute to Jack Crawford from the Battle of Camperdown really was a stunning display, once again.
