Sunderland show their resilience once again — and the fortress remains unbreached!
After a fairly shambolic loss at the hands of West Ham last time out, Sunderland needed to use this home clash with the Hammers’ fellow relegation rivals as a chance to respond strongly and to show that we could cope in the absence of Granit Xhaka.
The backdrop of a three-way transfer involving Adil Aouchiche, Simon Adingra and new arrival Nilson Angulo (a puzzle more complicated than a game on The Crystal Maze but one that eventually worked out perfectly) might’ve made for some slightly distracting
off-field drama but when it mattered, the Lads delivered.
This was as close to the dictionary definition of a “routine victory” as the Stadium of Light has seen this season and against a woefully limited Burnley side who look utterly doomed to the drop, a brace from Habib Diarra (one of which was deemed an own goal but credit to Diarra for his persistence and willingness to shoot) and a world class finish from Chemsdine Talbi ensured that our proud unbeaten home record remains intact, our push for the top ten remains very much alive and that a disappointing loss at the Olympic Stadium didn’t represent the beginning of a downturn in form.
Whenever questions are asked of Régis Le Bris and his players, more often than not, they provide the answers next time out and the attitude displayed by the players on Monday night was first class: no messing and no hesitation — just a focused approach that brought rich rewards.
Chemsdine Talbi is “in your head”…and Martin Dúbravka’s, too!
I liked Talbi’s all round display on Monday night — a lively and enterprising performance that showed why he’s such a highly-rated prospect — but his goal was a piece of world class individual skill and it lit the game up at a time when we might’ve easily settled for a 2-0 victory after an efficient night’s work.
Picking the ball up on the left, the Moroccan jinked his way past a couple of Burnley players before arrowing an unstoppable shot into the top corner of Dubravka’s goal, with the ball thumping off the inside corner of the crossbar and post for good measure.
It was yet another moment of magic from the young winger and it gave a packed house something extra to cheer on a night when despite the freezing temperature, we turned out in our thousands in the hope that something special might happen.
As it turned out, this was exactly that and for all the concerns about Sunderland’s options on the wings, Talbi’s ability isn’t one of them and this was a goal fit to add the finishing touch to any game.
Habib Diarra marks his Wearside return with a one-and-a-half goal salvo
During his absence, there was much talk about how we would fit the Senegalese midfielder, AFCON champion and club record signing back into the starting eleven upon his return from Morocco, but displays like this should go a long way towards solving the dilemma as he turned in an exceptionally dynamic performance at the heart of the Sunderland midfield and gave us a crucial advantage with two well-taken strikes.
Perhaps buoyed by his tournament success and eager to make up for lost time following his season-interrupting injury, Diarra was hugely impressive and as he seeks to re-establish himself as one of our key players, dominating a game in this fashion should set him up nicely for the tougher challenges that lie ahead.
In order to fill the Xhaka-shaped void in the engine room, it feels like Le Bris is going to adopt an open-minded selection policy and not place too much emphasis on a single player to pick up the baton formerly held by the Swiss midfielder, but that might be a strategy that brings about its own rewards — sharing the responsibility can often lead to more effective performances and Diarra will have a key role to play during the coming weeks.
Omar Alderete keeps us all guessing — for good and occasionally bad!
If the Paraguayan centre back didn’t exist, would we be able to invent him?
I absolutely love the guy to pieces and Alderete’s unique mixture of composure, exuberance, skill and physicality are essentially everything we look for in a central defender, but there are also moments when he’ll try a Cruyff turn or a little flick and almost get himself into trouble as a result — and this happened once or twice against Burnley.
Yes, it may get the heart pounding and the pulse racing, but the qualities that Alderete brings to the team far outweigh his penchant for taking the occasional risk, and his full-blooded approach to the game and sheer love of defending are playing a major role in Sunderland’a frankly astonishing unbeaten home league record for 2025/2026.
We love you Omar…we do!
