Let’s be honest: we’d all love to be Enzo Le Fée, wouldn’t we?
A good-looking guy, a real team man, an example of the triumph of determination over tragedy, and above all, a damn good footballer.
However,
perhaps it’s fair to say that few of us would’ve wanted to have swapped places with Le Fée following Wednesday night’s penalty shenanigans, when he opted for the daring option over the pragmatic choice against Brentford — and duly got it wrong.
The social media firestorm that followed was predictable, comical and often miles over the top, but it also highlighted the impact that’s been made by the Frenchman during his spell in red and white and how influential he actually is; a kind of riff on the old “Just because you made a mistake, it doesn’t mean we love you any less” angle.
Fast forward seventy two hours, however, and Le Fée was at the centre of attention once again, this time for altogether more positive reasons as Sunderland booked their place in the next round of the FA Cup by seeing off Everton at their plush new stadium, with Régis Le Bris showing admirable respect for the competition by naming a Lads’ starting eleven that was far stronger than perhaps many might’ve expected.
Retained in the team and given his chance to influence what could’ve been a tricky away tie, it was the former Roma attacker who got the ball rolling for the Lads, opening the scoring with a sublime volley that gave Jordan Pickford no chance before playing his part in our penalty shootout success with a calm and composed spot kick.
In doing so, Le Fée ended the most comical Sunderland “pantomime villain” arc of the season and showed once again why he’s such a key member of our team — in addition to his work rate against the Toffees, which was as effective and impressive as ever.
When it became obvious that this tie was to be settled from twelve yards, many players might’ve been tempted to pass up the responsibility to a teammate, but not Le Fée. That’s simply the sort of player he is, and Le Bris would’ve doubtless been delighted at the response from a man for whom he clearly feels a great deal of affection.
Even without his contributions on Saturday, the notion that Le Fée “owed us” for Wednesday night’s blunder was laughable, as if any professional footballer calculates in his mind that he’s going to make a complete pig’s ear of a penalty and give the opposing goalkeeper catching practice in the process.
I watched the 2006 World Cup final in an Ibiza hotel and was surrounded by Spanish, Italian, French and English fans when Zinedine Zidane chipped the ball in off Gianluigi Buffon’s crossbar. As he did so, there was a collective dropping of jaws as the ball crossed the line; a sense of “He’s done what?!?” — and this brings us back to a wider point about players of Le Fée’s ilk.
Mercurially-talented footballers often do things that others wouldn’t conceive of or have the skill to execute.
It’s the way they’re wired. They see things differently and they possess a deftness of touch, vision, and ability to deliver in the crunch exchanges. As a technician, Le Fée is one of the finest players I’ve had the privilege of watching in a Sunderland shirt, and every time he takes to the field, you can see him planning, plotting and crafting his way through a game — attributes that Le Bris and his teammates clearly value.
As it happens, I’d actually love to see Le Fée dig even more deeply into his reserves of creativity and to become even more daring with his passing, not least because doing so could help to ignite an attack that’s been quite goal-shy recently. Could he slide more incisive, defence-splitting passes between the lines for our forwards? I think he could, and I’d love to see this happen more often.
The reality is that if Sunderland are to truly establish themselves at this level and continue to progress as a football club, we need to strike a balance between graft and grit, skill and steel, and vision and versatility — and yes, that means adding players to the ranks who are willing to take risks and who can occasionally frustrate.
That said, whenever I watch Le Fée play football, it brings me far more pleasure than frustration and even if he makes mistakes such as the one at the Gtech Stadium, his value to the squad more than makes up for such incidents.
The final point I’d like to make is that if he hadn’t dropped the ball on a sixpence during the Championship playoff semi-final second leg against Coventry City, we wouldn’t be in this position and Le Fée wouldn’t be showcasing his ability on the biggest stage of all. His mentality allows him to deliver in the biggest moments and against Everton on Saturday, he showed that despite his diminutive build, he’s got a big heart and the resilience to match.
Magnifique.
