The Lads ended pre-season in style, once again facing French opposition that has likewise qualified for European competition in the upcoming season, and, in truth, probably could and should have scored at least three or four more.
It was good being back in the SoL. Due to the absolutely nonsensical way the club still refuses to open up the full ground for these games, the ticket accounts and office fiasco, attendance was low at around 16,000. However, those of us in attendance got to see the new advertising
boards, the new coat of paint on the track around the pitch, the new carpets and new dugouts in action for the first time. The away extended dug-out is right in front of season-ticket holder seats with no roof, so if anyone’s in those rows for the upcoming season, give them as much dogs’ abuse as possible, please.
We also changed the dugouts and where the lads walk out from (although we still have the north-side dressing room), and I think this change will benefit us – we can finally get our coaching staff in the ear of the near-side assistant referee to attempt to sway their decision-making.
The club also teased some of the new in-stadium graphics for the big screens – and the game absolutely has gone if we are having to put lyrics on these screens to teach people the words to Can’t Help Falling In Love. There is absolutely no excuse for any Sun’lun fan not to know all these words off by heart by now.
Onto the game, anyway. Stade Rennais finished sixth in last year’s Ligue 1 and are coached by Frank Haise, who joined in February after former mag Habib Beye was poached by Marseille. He led the Brittany-based side back to Europe. Their star players are Ligue 1 top scorer Esteban LePaul and captain Valentin Rongier – two very accomplished players in their own right. As a result, I think they had the best of the early stages of the game. LePaul and Adrien Thomasson were adept at dropping deep and pulling our central defenders out of position for their wingers to advance into the space. This pulled our defence all over, and their press was particularly effective.
However, as the game wore on, Sunderland moved into the ascendancy. Enzo Le Fee almost played in Brian Brobbey and Nilson Angulo on successive attacks, and Dan Ballard looked effective in set-pieces. However, Rennes’ defence was well organised, and they just managed to consistently intercept and clear the ball before we could take advantage.
The first half’s most significant moment took place after half an hour when LePaul cleverly turned Ballard, who badly judged the turn and dangled out a leg only to take the Frenchman down in the box. He converted the penalty, and although Robin Roefs almost emulated last season in saving a penalty in pre-season by getting a hand on it, the pure pace on the ball ensured it still flew in.
Reinildo had the best chance of the half, pushing high and beyond Talbi, he took the ball in his stride and hit a shot well into the far corner, only for ex-Nottingham Forest keeper Brice Samba to save well. It was quite an even half, with Rennes having more chances but Sunderland arguably the best. However, I don’t think we were aggressive enough or quick enough in our play to break Rennes down.
This changed from the moment the second half began, with us clearly picking up the pace. The visitors struggled with the pace we played, and the chances came. Brian Brobbey scored a bizarre goal, which is quite possibly the most Brian Brobbey goal of all time, then Trai Hume got the winner off a well-worked set-piece.
For about ten minutes in the second half in particular, we absolutely ran them ragged. When we play like this, at pace and aggressive, it is clear many teams can’t live with us. Brobbey, Enzo, Mundle, Ballard, Reinildo and Isidor all missed massive chances – with some of them real sitters. But we still scored twice, and created a hell of a lot of chances.
Diarra, Rigg and Mundle all replaced Sadiki, Angulo and Talbi after 65 minutes, and then around 10 minutes later Isidor replaced Brobbey, and they all played well and added pace, energy and even more aggression into our play. It is clear we are pressing far more, playing far more attacking, and are being lined up in a riskier, less conservative manner in pre-season.
I was particularly impressed by Reinildo’s performance. He started pre-season a little rusty but in the last two has really excelled and is clearly enjoying having a little more freedom to bomb down the wing. With the impending arrival of Dayann Methalie from Toulouse, it is clear he won’t give up that left-back spot without a fight.
Dan Ballard was aerially dominant, but did seem to struggle a bit with LePaul on the deck and did have a panic phase. However, during all that, Luke O’Nien was excellent. He pinged the ball all over the pitch with consummate ease and stayed calm throughout a difficult opening twenty minutes. He looks totally different to when he first started playing in the Prem around 10 months ago.
Sadiki and Enzo have been absolutely brilliant in pre-season, and were again today. However, I think Habib Diarra, in a deeper role, has also performed really well, and it seems to suit his game far more than when he plays as a 10. I’ve waxed lyrical again and again about Riggy all pre-season, but whenever you watch him, he looks ten feet taller and ten years wiser.
At the end of the game, Eliezer Mayenda was finally subbed on to some lovely scenes. Everyone in attendance stood up and rapturously applauded him onto the pitch, and at the end of the game he was surrounded by his former teammates as “Oi, Big Man rang out around the SoL for just one more time. He looked visibly emotional, and he goes both with some sadness, but just a bucketload of well wishes for the rest of his career.
