Sunderland returned to winning ways on Founders’ Week, leaving Wolverhampton Wanderers rooted to the foot of the Premier League table after the first league meeting between the two sides since Sunderland’s
final day victory of 2017/2018 — in which we denied Wolves a century of points in the process.
A goal in either half confirmed a 2-0 win for Sunderland and in truth, we kept Wolves at arm’s length for portions of the game — despite ceding possession during the second half — with the away side never really threatening.
How did Régis Le Bris tinker with his system in order to take another three points from a side at the bottom?
Sunderland lineup
Le Bris made two changes from the side that started at Old Trafford before the international break.
Simon Adingra was replaced by Chris Rigg and Arthur Masuaku came out of the team to be replaced by Dan Ballard, who’d had an excellent week away with Northern Ireland. Both Noah Sadiki and Omar Alderete were deemed fit enough to start — at which even I was surprised, given Le Bris’ tentative nature when it comes to injuries.
From a shape perspective, things looked relatively routine with Sunderland utilising their usual 4-3-3 system which saw Enzo Le Fée shift back over to the left wing and Trai Hume come in at left back.
In possession, Sunderland made use of the positional rotation of Hume, Sadiki and Le Fée to create passing angles as Sadiki dropped into left back, Hume inverted into midfield and Le Fée became a floating midfielder, tucking inside to help link up attacking moves.
Out of possession, we adopted our usual 4-4-2 system with Rigg pushing on to support the press alongside Wilson Isidor — as he did numerous times last season — holding a compact shape, funneling Wolves wide and inviting them to play early crosses, which Sunderland’s defensive line were easily able to head away.
Opposition lineup
Vítor Pereira was looking to find the winning formula after encouraging performances against both Spurs and Brighton in recent weeks, and also having switched to a back four.
Pereria matched up to Sunderland stylistically and made two changes of his own, with Matt Doherty at back to help provide some defensive stability away from home, and Hwang Hee-Chan dropped to the bench in favour of Rodrigo Gomes on the left wing.
With Wolves having a physically imposing striker in Jørgen Strand-Larsen, direct balls played up to the forward with emphasis placed on the onrushing wingers to support him was the main order of the day for Wolves.
Despite having started the season poorly, they’d experienced an upturn in form over the previous two games and were looking to kick-start their season after an encouraging away performance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Baiting the press
With neither team being a particularly possession-dominant side, the early stages of the game felt a little like cat and mouse from goal kicks as both sides tried to bait the press by playing it out from the back.
Utilising a similar sequence to the one deployed at the City Ground versus Nottingham Forest, lateral passes were executed to draw pressure before Alderete reversed a pass into Sadiki’s feet and split the lines. A further ball to Isidor was finished spectacularly, only for him to be ruled offside.
Although it can be incredibly risky when relied on too often or poorly executed, drawing in the press to manufacture transitional moments remains a key way to break down teams who refuse to play into Sunderland’s hands, so whilst it might leave us with our hearts in our mouths, sometimes it’s for the greater good.
Passing to perfection
Sunderland opened the scoring just after the fifteen minute mark, following a barrage of long throws to build pressure and a wonderful passing move to sustain it.
In what was arguably Sunderland’s best move so far this season, we saw a quick interchange of five passes involving a neat Cruyff turn, a tidy one-two between both defenders and the most unlikely of finishers in Nordi Mukiele.
Interestingly, the two highest xG chances Sunderland fashioned in the whole game came from our full backs — Mukiele’s goal was recorded at 0.22 xG, and Hume’s header against the post was recorded at 0.24 xG, meaning our two full backs ended up being the most dangerous players on the day!
It wasn’t all easy on the eye though, and as mentioned above, Hume was able to get on the end of another Mukiele long-throw special and almost double the lead for Sunderland after crashing a flick-on off the foot of the post.
It’s important to highlight the danger that long throws cause for defences; Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football analysis highlighted that Sunderland have created half a dozen goalscoring chances from these this season, and only Brentford’s Michael Kayode has been more effective.
As a newly-promoted side, having the ability to cause panic in even the best defences in the league through unpredictable throws is a real weapon and provides another facet to our attacks when looking to match teams with our physicality.
Isidor’s ongoing improvement
Whilst Isidor was only a shoulder’s width away from retaining his home scoring streak at the weekend, I think it’s important to mention the work he does that often goes unnoticed since our promotion to the Premier League —and that’s in his outstanding off-the-ball work.
At times last season, Isidor was critical of poor hold up play and often drifted in and out of games against the burly centre halves of the EFL. However, since his Premier League introduction, he’s come on in leaps and bounds.
Although not the most physically dominant and despite only starting five games this season, Isidor has already won 24% of his overall duel total from 2024/2025, demonstrating his desire to challenge for every ball that comes his way.
Furthermore, he still ranks in the 76th percentile for touches in the box for Premier League forwards and in the 81st percentile for shots taken, which shows he makes the most of every opportunity he gets around the box.
One area which goes under the radar, however, is his pressing ability.
Although he often looks spent after the hour mark, his relentless pressing for the team and ability to lead the press from the front is something that doesn’t appear on stats sheets. His 0.4 tackles in the opposition final third per 90 demonstrates how much he looks to pressure the opposition, placing him in the top 7% of forwards in the league.
Absorbing the pressure
With a lead heading into the second half, we naturally looked to protect what we had and opted for a more conservative approach to see out the game.
Surrendering possession to Wolves ultimately made the away side more uncomfortable as they were forced to press the issue — which resulted in a more direct war of attrition, with a barrage of long balls played into the box.
Whilst it can be uncomfortable at times — either inside in the stadium or at home — this approach is something that Le Bris has entrusted to his side, given their love for defending, and it really allowed us to look comfortable despite not retaining much of the ball.
With Ballard and Alderete combining for thirteen clearances (with the former also winning 7/12 aerial duels against two strikers who towered over him), both defenders relished the challenge as we saw out the game.
Sealing the points with a stroke of luck
As we continued to battle for the final half hour, Chemsdine Talbi was introduced out wide and once again showed his quality and why he’s seemingly a perfect fit for Le Bris’ counter-attacking system, with a mazy run which resulted in an unfortunate own goal by Ladislav Krejci as we approached full time.
Talbi has taken some flack in recent weeks, however, I think it’s important to note the sky high potential of this young man going forward.
Although he’s started his Sunderland career out on the right, I feel Le Bris has done so to allow him time to acclimatise to the league and feel comfortable before deploying him on his preferred side.
He finished the match with 100% dribble success rate; he created a great chance for Ballard with a flashing cross, and whether it was dubious or not, he can take the acclaim for another assist after his part in the second goal.
Next up…Chelsea (A)
With a trip to Stamford Bridge on the horizon, Sunderland find themselves keeping company with some of the league’s elite, starting Saturday’s game level on points with the hosts and only one behind current champions Liverpool.
With Reinildo back in contention and debates about whether to utilise a back five away from home, Le Bris will be rallying his troops ahead of another return to London in the Premier League for captain Granit Xhaka.
