Sunderland kicked off their first pre-season as a Premier League club since 2016/2017 with a tour of South Tyneside as the first leg of a split-squad double-header against Gateshead at the International Stadium morphed into a development squad friendly with a few fringe first teamers making appearances.
Ian Poveda, Nazariy Ruysn, Joe Anderson, and Blondy Nna Noukeu lined up alongside a host of U21 and U18 players for the first half, whilst Jay Matete, Abdoullah Ba and Hemir featured in the second. All are expected to leave the club and this gave them a crucial chance to get some solid minutes in the tank.
The young lads drew 2-2 with Gateshead’s physicality providing a stern test, but to focus on these first team players, a noticeably slimmer Poveda stood out.
He was a constant threat on the right and put himself in the shop window, with Régis Le Bris later confirming that he’s up for sale. Anderson’s goal in the first half is also worth looking for online as he blasted in a twenty-yard raker from the edge of the box to put the Lads 2-1 up in the first half.
It was a slightly odd atmosphere for most of the game, with few Hebburn Town fans on show, and not many more Gateshead fans.
Sunderland fans sang behind Matty Young’s goal in the second half, but it seemed a missed opportunity for the hosts as no beer was allowed to be consumed in view of the pitch — only for everyone enjoying a pint in a beer garden adjacent to the pitch to stand on tables on the other side of a fence to watch the action anyway!
Naturally, as is customary in this fixture, there were just as many Newcastle kits on show as there were Gateshead ones, who were dwarfed by the Sunderland numbers as many still made the trip along the Metro to cast a keen eye over a few promising youngsters.
Luis Hemir wasted a pair of huge chances in the second half to win the game and in truth, it’s pretty obvious that there’s no future at the club for these first team fringe players who featured in Hebburn.
Jack Whittaker started as a number ten with Trey Ogunsuyi up top, and he controlled proceedings in the first half, while young wingers Bailey Hester and Charlie Dinsdale (both just sixteen) terrorised their full backs in the second.
Sunderland first-half XI: Blondy, Lavery, Kindon; Anderson, Jones, Hunt; Ja. Jones, Poveda, Whittaker, Rusyn; Ogunsuyi Second half XI: Young, G. Bell, L. Bell; Holcroft, Neild, Matete; Scott, Dinsdale, Ba, Hester; Hemir
Just along the coast, the first team defeated South Shields 4-0 in a pulsating, high-paced and high-intensity encounter.
Habib Diarra made his non-competitive debut in a midfield three as Enzo Le Fée played in a deeper role than we saw during the second half of last season, dictating proceedings as a deep-lying playmaker.
The first three goals were pretty much carbon copies of each other.
Stealing the ball in midfield, we broke quickly before feeding a player running off the left in behind and slotting down low to the right of the home side’s keeper.
Le Fée orchestrated the first as he won the ball, progressed up the pitch and played in Wilson Isidor. Diarra himself then did the same but instead of a lovely placed through ball, it was just a well-timed pass after a driving run through the heart of the pitch, which released Romaine Mundle in behind.
The third was a nice bit of play by Patrick Roberts, who cut inside, dropped a few men before releasing Milan Aleksić down the left with a pass not too dissimilar from that which levelled the playoff final in May.
In truth, it was men against boys at times as the class between the two sides and the gulf between the respective leagues showed.
However, the Lads’ aggressive press and constant threading of balls at pace on diagonals out into the half-spaces could provide an early hint as to how we’ll play this coming season.
At one point in the first half, every outfield player camped Shields in their half as the team hunted and pressed in packs once a home side centre back took just one too many touches on the ball.
We again made eleven changes at half time, spreading out minutes as much as possible across the squad as forty four different players took to the field — which must be some sort of Sunderland record!
Diarra was the man of the match against South Shields, with his aggression and athleticism really shining alongside the equal tenacity and technique of Le Fée. Ahmed Abdullahi and Eli Mayenda also ran Shields ragged in the second half and they combined to wrap the game up right before the end.
It was also great to see Niall Huggins return to the pitch in a Sunderland shirt for the first time since December 2023.
Ben Middlemas and Timur Tutierov also started — notably added to this fixture ahead of some older players being dropped into the development squad. They both performed admirably on the back of signing renewed contracts at the club and it would be great to see them both get season-long loans in the EFL as they continue their development.
There were promising performances to start pre-season all over the pitch, even if we missed five players through injury and four of the six new signings were not able to play a part.
Sunderland first half XI: Patterson, Huggins, Seelt; Ballard, Jenson Jones, Le Fée; Diarra, Tutierov, Browne; Mundle, Isidor Second half XI: Moore, Hume, Triantis; Johnson, Harrison Jones, Roberts; Neil, Middlemas, Aleksic; Mayenda, Abdullahi