Robin Roefs
In most clubs, the phlegmatic Dutchman would have been the buy of the season, such has been his impact in the Premier League. Unfortunately, at Sunderland, his competition for that accolade included Granit Xhaka, Nordi Mukiele, Omar Alderete, Reinildo, Brian Brobbey and Noah Sadiki, such was the wealth of talent that the club accumulated for their Premier League campaign.
Now at the World Cup with his national side, Roefs is blessed with a maturity beyond his years – it is sometimes difficult to remember
that he is still only 23, and that he cost just £9 million when he signed from NEC.
He is a vocal presence, with the ability to confidently claim or punch high balls, and is an agile shot stopper, with excellent positional awareness, which was amply evidenced by his stunning save from Jake O’Brien at Everton. The Hill Dickinson stadium was already a happy hunting ground for Roefs after his three penalty shootout saves in the FA Cup.
Roefs’ distribution is excellent – he can ping balls accurately with both feet, and I have eventually become accustomed to him luring attackers onto him, before dispatching the ball. The days of Anthony Patterson (more on him later) repeatedly propelling the ball out of play are long gone.
Roefs will undoubtedly attract interest during the close season but we now have European football to offer. He left NEC in search of regular first-team football – unless a Champions League club is willing to guarantee that he will be their No.1, hopefully, we will see his reassuring presence next season.
Melker Ellborg
If Robin Roefs has the countenance of a somewhat dour Dutchman, Melker Ellborg is very much the smiling Swede.
Against Port Vale, Luke O’Nien had a creditable attempt at scoring the most spectacular Sunderland own goal since Santiago Vergini’s stunning volley against Southampton in 2014. Fortunately, the young Swede improvised brilliantly, turning the ball over the bar. O’Nien had been undone by an unfortunate bobble and, rather than berate his senior colleague, Ellborg laughed it off with a grin.
He appeared in three Premier League matches, in the victory against Leeds at Elland Road, the home defeat to Brighton and, of course, the victory against the noisy neighbours at St James’s Park. That included the incident between him and Luke O’Nien that led to Anthony Gordon’s early opener. It says much for Ellborg’s temperament that he recovered to put in an assured performance for the rest of the game.
With Europa League fixtures on top of the Premier League, League Cup and FA Cup matches, Ellborg is likely to see more action in the season to come, and has shown enough for Régis Le Bris to have confidence in him.
Simon Moore
At 36, Simon Moore is very much the elder statesman of the goalkeeping group. All reports indicate that the former Sheffield United and Coventry stopper is a huge influence in the dressing room, and not just on the keepers. Luke O’Nien had this to say about him
“If I go down now to my locker here at the training ground, I’ve got a Simon Moore shirt in there. How many games did he play in our promotion season last year? Maybe around four, with three clean sheets, conceded two goals. So he played four games and he was the most important cog in our machine that won promotion last season.
“I have his shirt in my locker because if I’m not playing, it reminds me to be like him. He is a wonderful human and he puts that first, and then it’s the footballer.“
If the model professional at the club has that opinion, it speaks volumes about the role that Moore now plays in the squad. As he works towards his coaching qualifications, he may continue his Sunderland career in an entirely different capacity.
Matty Young
The most promising home-grown goalkeeping prospect since Jordan Pickford, Young is clocking up senior appearances at an astonishing rate. Firmly established as Karl Robinson’s No.1 at Salford, Young now has clocked up more than 60 senior appearances in League Two at the age of just 19.
Capped by England at U18, U19 and U20 level, Young will need a higher level of football to continue his development. Pickford went from a breakthrough season at Notts County to a season in the Championship with Preston North End. That is a blueprint which Young appears destined to follow.
Anthony Patterson
There is an argument that, but for Patterson’s early save from Kieffer Moore’s header at Wembley, players like Roefs and Ellborg would never have been pictured outside the Academy of Light, holding the scarf.
The local-born lad was a cornerstone of the promotion-winning team that finally brought Premier League football back to the Stadium of Light. But, like Dan Neil, Patrick Roberts and Dennis Cirkin, it appears that Patto’s future elsewhere.
At 26, he needs to be playing regularly, and he simply won’t get that at Sunderland. He is a hugely competent keeper but there are areas of his game which still need to improve. He has a good physical presence but is not the commanding goalkeeper in his area that he should be. And his distribution definitely needs work. But he is still not fully mature, in goalkeeping terms, and he should be capable of making the step up.
It would be no surprise to see him return to the Stadium of Light with another Premier League team in the future.
