Sunderland travelled down to the South Coast for their first league meeting at the Amex Stadium on Saturday as the festive fixtures took hold. With several departures away to the AFCON, how did Le Bris shuffle his pack and really put pressure on Fabian Hürzeler to earn yet another well-deserved point on the road?
Sunderland Line-Up
With the raft of players departing away to Morocco, Sunderland named their first team of the season without the bulk of their summer signings, providing a return to the bench
for the likes of Harrison Jones and Leo Hjelde in a squad that also saw the return of Habib Diarra who was completing the last of his rehabilitation before departing himself.
As expected, Régis Le Bris was forced into four changes from the win over Newcastle as Chemsdine Talbi, Bertrand Traoré, Noah Sadiki, and Reinildo all dropped out; Lutsharel Geertruida, Simon Adingra, Chris Rigg, and Trai Hume all came in to replace them as Sunderland looked to build on their derby-day win.
In an interesting formation choice, Le Bris retained his 4-3-3 formation and moved Geertruida into midfield to replace the ever-present Sadiki, while Rigg moved over to the right wing in a similar manner to how he featured for Sunderland during the play-off final. Out of possession, we retained our 4-4-2 system that was familiar during last season; by utilising Enzo Le Fée and Brian Brobbey as the two pressing triggers, it allowed Xhaka to push further forward and lead the second line of press in order to restrict Brighton during their build-up phase.
Opposition Line-Up
Fabian Hürzeler was forced into several changes himself with the core of his team suffering suspension due to yellow-card accumulation. Diego Gómez, Lewis Dunk, and former Mackem Danny Welbeck all missed out as Georginio Rutter took the captaincy; elsewhere both central defenders were replaced as Olivier Boscagli and Diego Coppola came in to make their first league start together as a pairing and left themselves open to Sunderland to exploit.
Hürzeler sets his team up in a traditional 4-2-3-1 and utilises the pace and direct nature of his wingers in Yankuba Minteh and Kaoru Mitoma in order to isolate the opposition 1 v 1 and look for mismatches they can exploit. Due to the latter returning from injury, summer signing Maxim De Cuyper, who plies his trade at left-back primarily, took the space on the left wing due to his positional versatility.
In a contrasting style to his predecessor De Zerbi who focused more on a slow and considered build-up before a quick transition forward, Hürzeler prefers a more steady and conservative approach in possession, often utilising his ability to dominate possession to exploit openings for his wingers as well as frequent diagonal transitions from his inverted wingers making curved runs from the touchline in between the two opposition central defenders.
Coming Out the Traps
In a similar fashion to previous away trips, Sunderland came out of the blocks with some assertive pressure in the early stages and really looked to have stifled the Brighton build-up we’re used to seeing. Deploying a classic Le Bris 4-4-2, Brobbey and Le Fée did very well to limit any of Brighton’s usual build-up play from occurring.
By disrupting their usual patterns of play, both players were screening out Brighton’s usual passing lanes once both centre-backs split wide; Verbruggen was then encouraged to walk the ball out of his own box before driving the ball long and handing possession back to the away side. The hounding pressure within Brighton’s back line made the hosts uncomfortable and resulted in a string of loose passes and openings created for Sunderland.
Given the aggressive starting position of Sunderland’s wingers paired with the defensive cover of Geertruida, Xhaka was able to advance forward and utilise a man-to-man press on Georginio Rutter and Jack Hinshelwood as they dropped deeper to collect the ball, even resulting in some loose touches and sloppy turnovers in the opening half-hour.
Big Shoes to Fill
With Noah Sadiki departing to represent DR Congo, a gaping hole had been left in Sunderland’s midfield with some big shoes to fill. Having remained comfortably within the top five distances covered by central midfielders in the Premier League this season, it’s hard to replicate the energy and tenacity that Sadiki brings to the side; however Lutsharel Geertruida made a fantastic account of himself in Sadiki’s absence.
Tasked with marking the tricky Yasin Ayari for the hosts, Geertruida was touch-tight making life difficult for the Swedish international. Making two tackles, four recoveries, and even a vital interception he was able to stifle Brighton’s ball progression and freed Xhaka up to play his normal game whilst still riding his four-yellow-card tightrope.
By assuming the deepest point in Sunderland’s midfield triangle, Geertruida was able to marshal the back four but also slot in alongside his defensive partners during build-up when the centre-backs split or into a flat back five when defending out of possession, making the Dutch international a real Swiss Army knife for Le Bris during the festive period.
Brobbey’s Hold Up
Despite finishing the afternoon without a goal, Brian Brobbey once again demonstrated his ability to be a useful asset for Sunderland during his 70 minutes on the pitch at the Amex, causing all sorts of problems for Brighton’s back line. Utilising his immense strength and enormous frame the Dutchman was able to bully the Brighton defenders throughout the game, winning 6/8 of his aerial duels and 2/4 of his ground duels throughout the afternoon.
If not for some confusion between himself and Rigg, Brobbey would’ve probably walked away with a goal himself after some great shielding to bring the ball down in the box on numerous occasions, only for the ball to either be snatched off him by an onrushing Rigg or, in the case of his own shot, obstructed his shooting line and prevented him from getting the necessary purchase to squeeze the ball past Verbruggen.
With three shots throughout the contest producing an xG of 0.41, he led the team in Sunderland’s shot attempts and on another day extends his season tally to three for the season. In Brobbey Sunderland have a striker they can utilise in games where they expect to see more of the ball and can therefore provide a more direct focal point of attack; his hold-up play allows runners to drift off him and his ability to link up play with the rest of the team against a settled defence will be crucial as Sunderland enter the second half of the season as favourites going into the return fixtures against teams.
Le Fée’s Creative Clinic
Following his return to the centre of the pitch in recent weeks, Enzo Le Fée looks to have settled into his role as the team’s creative hub incredibly well and looks at home against Premier League midfields. Whilst his attacking output remains his main facet, his defensive contribution and pressing despite his size can’t be ignored.
Le Fée works tirelessly off the ball and despite not being great in his individual battles on the day with only 3/7 duels won, he gets into the face of the opposition constantly for someone we’d consider one of our “flair players” in this side. Throughout the afternoon he created a whopping five chances from just fifteen passes, which was the most by any Sunderland player away from home in the Premier League for over a decade.
With Habib Diarra returning to fitness, Le Fée may be forced back out wide; however in his current form it would be hard to justify leaving the titular Frenchman out of the starting XI. Whilst Le Fée’s numbers don’t always show up on the stats sheet, his ability to influence games paired with his absolute understanding of how Le Bris requires him to operate within his system makes him an invaluable asset to Sunderland’s midfield.
Ending 2025 In Style
With one remaining home game against Leeds United left on the 2025 calendar, Le Bris will be looking to top 2025 off in style by reaching the 30-point milestone in the joint-second-fastest in the club’s Premier League history, only losing out to the 1999-00 season. With a Leeds side in flying form it could be a tough afternoon, but with sights set on hitting the 30-point number I’m sure Le Bris will be cautiously optimistic that he can edge past last season’s Championship winners.
With Romaine Mundle and Chris Rigg gaining valuable minutes and no fresh injury concerns (pending no players managed to fall off the benches at the darts on Sunday), then Le Bris should have a fully fit squad to pick from as we head into 2026. Sunderland might have finished 24 points behind our upcoming opponents last season, but the current squad will be eager to show there’s a more sizeable gap in the opposite direction now and cap off what has been a stunning calendar year – and personally the best I’ve experienced in my near three decades as a Sunderland fan.
