“Anyone order liquid football?” I quipped in one of the many Roker Report group chats, a mere seven minutes into Friday’s capitulation. Brian Brobbey had just popped it off his chest to Enzo Le Fée, who neatly found Chris Rigg, as Sunderland began where they left off against Aston Villa — with free-flowing confidence.
We were finally free, free from the shackles of “Reggie-ball”, who needs defensive solidity and clear structure, when we can watch Dan Ballard take on five Nottingham Forest defenders,
before intricately cutting it back from the byline?
In the space of a couple of games, we’ve been untethered in the name of experimentation. Are we finally seeing Régis’ midlife reform play out in real-time? Will he have grown a mullet and be sampling the newest Y-3 Adidas tracksuit à la Vincent Kompany when we kick off against Wolves?
The baggy look doesn’t suit you, Reggie, and that’s ok. In fact, our pants were so loose against Forest that Vitor Pereira’s side had them down past our ankles before half-time. As his fellow countryman, Yves Saint Laurent, once said: “Fashions fade, but style is eternal.” Take heed, lads, take heed.
The last two showings weren’t Le Bris’ style. We know that, but our slightly awkward mega-nerd, who undoubtedly has vast data centres dedicated to ranking Bourdelais wines, had to take a dip in the fountain of Pep Guardiola and Roberto De Zerbi at some point. If not as a social experiment, merely to prove his own point. For we are Sunderland, and he is Régis Le Bris.
It was fun watching us play a style of football that was a clear departure from Reggie-ball. So fun, in fact, I felt the “Ole’s” coming at 0-0.
Unfortunately, it transpires that going toe-to-toe with really, really good attacking outfits is a bad idea. Despite my enduring love for Luke O’Nien, he spent most of his time either on his arse or running back towards his own goal at Villa Park — a defining image of this mini-trial. Trai Hume was left awfully exposed last Friday, and we were flailing from the set-piece as our visitors notched three from dead-ball situations.
Of course, many have cited the departure of Luciano Vulcano — our assistant head coach — as the catalyst for this defensive demise: this eruption of goals conceded. And the stats are hard to ignore. We’ve shipped 20 goals in our last 12 games, having conceded just 28 goals in the 25 games before that — a trend that correlates perfectly with Vulcano’s exit. So, while this defensive frailty doesn’t solely rest on the last two games, the change in tactic has certainly exacerbated matters at the back.
Le Bris has been bold in seemingly answering calls to deploy a more expansive, creatively-driven setup, despite having been faithfully wedded to a philosophy that has served us so well this term.
Understandably, there’s been pressure on him to allow us to “play more”, a possession-based game is easy on the eye, it’s football in its purest form. But it doesn’t garner results, at least not for us yet.
We are at our best out of possession, pressing teams, hitting opponents on the counter, and utilising a pragmatic and physical midfield and forward in Brobbey. Yet, it’s defensively where we truly excel, Ballard and Omar Alderete complement each other perfectly, while Robin Roefs hadn’t put a foot wrong until an uncharacteristic mishap last week.
Against already-relegated Wolves on Saturday, I’m hoping to see a return to former glories. A display that comprises the traits we’ve come to associate with Le Bris and this side. Admittedly, it’s not the most fashionable or compelling, but Le Bris’ style is eternal, and is the reason we’ve been afforded the luxury of testing new approaches at this stage.
