Debutants
We knew there would be a lot of changes coming into this game, and Régis ended up giving us our first sight of Dayann Methalie and Jules Ahoka, while Fofana got his first start for the club. I was excited to see both get minutes, as I think they can each have big roles this season. I’ll focus on the former two here and cover Fofana a bit further down.
Firstly, I thought Methalie had a shaky start to the game, seemingly struggling to get his touch, getting too tight and failing to make the right decision
on a number of occasions. You could tell he was trying to impress, and combining that with new teammates, a heavily shuffled XI and a fairly muted atmosphere could explain his early issues. I thought he grew into the game, though, and improved a lot in the second half. He’s clearly got a good turn of pace, and I felt that his best moments came in an offensive sense, pushing the ball down the line – a good sign as we endeavour for improved attacking impetus, so long as he can show he has the defensive side of his game nailed down. Mixed but promising.
Ahoka, on the other hand, flourished throughout as he filled in for our ever-dependable skipper, Granit Xhaka. He’s a unit considering his age but gets around the pitch with a languid elegance and speed, which was required as he shuffled from side to side, taking the ball from the back four and keeping the game ticking with ease. I was very impressed by his footballing IQ on and off the ball, and he fit in remarkably well in a difficult position despite only ever playing four senior games prior to yesterday. He did make a couple of small mistakes towards the end of the game – which he was often able to recover from with his speed and reach – that would be picked up on quickly if Xhaka had made them, for example, but if that’s the yardstick you’re being compared with in your fifth senior game, I think that’s quite exciting.
Fringe Players
Beyond the debutants, there were a lot of players that we haven’t had many opportunities to see recently. O’Nien, Ellborg and Ta Bi in particular each made impressions on me for different reasons across the duration.
Unfortunately, I thought that O’Nien continued on his poor vein of form from the opening day against Ipswich. An early mistake could, and possibly should, have led to a penalty for Hull, his positioning was quite suspect and he got himself a foolish yellow card in the second half. As always, I liked a lot of his play with the ball and his progressive passing is often impressive, but I’m glad that we managed to bring Danso in for depth in that role.
I wasn’t particularly impressed with Ellborg yesterday, either. He didn’t have much to do, but it seems that he does have a mistake in him, and we saw that early when he made a rash decision to come for a ball he couldn’t reach; fortunately, the Hull forward couldn’t convert, but it was another early let-off at the back. Indecision and a penchant for pushing the ball back into dangerous areas threatened to cost us later in the game, despite being largely covered well by those in front of him. I’m not chalking him off, but I hope to see some improvements in case he’s called upon in prioritised fixtures.
Finally, I thought that Ta Bi gave us even more of what we already knew – he’s both incredibly raw and incredibly unpredictable. He seems to have an immense dribbling ability and directness, which he’s very keen to demonstrate and will be well received by the Sunderland faithful. His overall performance was a mixed bag: he ran into blind alleys, got caught on the ball and failed to find his man in promising positions. However, he won an enormous number of fouls, dragged us up the pitch and had the Hull defenders on strings in equal measure. If nothing else, he’s exciting, and if he can bring it all together, he could be a big threat for us.
Talbi / Fofana
We had two left wingers starting yesterday in very different positions, both on and off the pitch. Malick Fofana got his first chance to start a game and was granted his preferred position out on the left, where he impressed in flashes. It seemed like the physicality and demands of the game snuck up on him a little bit, and I’m not sure I saw quite the same levels of effort and passion as a lot of the others out there, but it’s his first week in England and I liked what I saw when he got the ball at his feet.
On the other hand, we had Chemsdine Talbi operating in more of a free attacking role, drifting across the front line and linking with teammates as required. It was nice to see Talbi get a proper run-out, especially after a turbulent summer. Florent Ghisolfi had only confirmed earlier in the day that he’d be staying around despite interest from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which was surely reconsidered following Mundle & Diarra’s injuries, you’d imagine.
In return for an increasingly rare starting place, he gave us a very lively, full-blooded and determined performance, which was capped off with a moment of excellence as he finished off a lung-busting run with a wonderful, Jeremain Lens-esque chip. He’s not one for giving away too much emotion at the best of times, but he didn’t seem too happy before, during or after the game. Maybe I’m reading into it a bit too much, but I think it’s something worth noting, as he’s a player that we will definitely need over the coming months, and I hope that the relationships are still strong behind the scenes – the team bond is hugely important for this squad.
Cup game attitude
A note on the game and the League Cup as a whole. I find the whole atmosphere and attitude towards the League Cup a little disappointing, especially in the early games, and I wish it was something we could address as a club. As mentioned earlier, the atmosphere was quite muted and it was reflected on the pitch – something which isn’t unique to Sunderland but is definitely emphasised by the size of the stadium and intensity of our usual support at League games.
I think if the club showed a bit more enthusiasm towards the fixtures and encouraged fans a bit more, it could lift the overall attitude towards these games and perhaps push us on for a bit of a cup run. I get it, we have four competitions to compete in this season, but I’d love to see a bit more oomph on these weeknight cup games – especially when we have such capable players out there, even in a rotated side.
Chris Rigg
Finally, a quick mention for Chris Rigg, who I thought was again very impressive and accomplished in midfield. He looked like our most senior player out there, leading by example and putting his all into every tackle and every sprint. He’s already got the full toolkit at his disposal – he can dribble, pick a pass, take set pieces and his intelligence on the pitch is exceptional for his age; my only complaint is that he’s not getting more minutes in the league!
