After everyone’s new favourite £4.0m goalkeeper failed to appear at Turf Moor on Saturday, there was no Marc Guiu (£4.5m) in either of Sunderland’s pre-season friendlies at the weekend.
The on-loan striker looks like being one of the better, probably the best, £4.5m forwards in the medium term, but involvement in Gameweek 1 is questionable.
In these Scout Notes, we hear from Regis Le Bris on Guiu – and reflect on more penalty misery for the Mackems.
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AUGSBURG 0-1 SUNDERLAND
SUNDERLAND 0-3 RAYO VALLECANO
Goal: Diarra
Assist: Adingra
WILL GUIU BE FIT FOR GAMEWEEK 1?
Perhaps it was no surprise that Guiu didn’t feature in hindsight, as he was only captured last Wednesday.
So the question now is whether we’ll see him against West Ham United next Saturday.
On top of a late arrival on Wearside, he’s had little pre-season training thanks to a post-Club World Cup break. He was reportedly still in Hawaii on July 31!
We might be looking at a little while (potentially after the September international break?) in terms of starting contention, then, if he requires time to build up his match fitness.
Guiu was followed into the club by Arthur Masuaku at the weekend, and Le Bris discussed the pair with reporters.
“We are still in the process to improve the squad and progressively new signings like these two will help the squad, even if they started later. So, we’ll have to be patient with them, to build their foundations for the season.” – Regis Le Bris on Marc Guiu and Arthur Masuaku, to in-house club media
“We’ll see. Every day, we will make an assessment of their level and see how far we can push them through the training sessions. Lift the intensity, the contact. If they react well, they can then join the squad. If they don’t react well, we wait one day, two days, and assess again. So we will see for next week.” – Regis Le Bris on whether Marc Guiu and Arthur Masuaku will be fit for Gameweek 1, via the Northern Echo
ANOTHER MISSED SUNDERLAND PENALTY!
After Sunderland failed to score with four of their five penalties last season, a new taker was given the chance against Augsburg – and missed.
Eliezer Mayenda (£5.5m) took this latest effort, skying it over the bar.
That’s a blow for the budget striker’s FPL appeal, who has the chance to further his claim up front while Guiu is getting up to speed. Another positional rival, Wilson Isidor (£5.5m), is just back from injury,
Will he get another chance from 12 yards or will someone like Habib Diarra (£5.5m), who took penalties for Strasbourg last season, get an opportunity? We shall see.
Mayenda has not had the best pre-season in front of goal in general. On Saturday again, it was everything but the goal. Lots of good movement but wasteful finishing, including two clear-cut chances aside from the spot-kick.
He’s a real talent, the Spain under-21 international, but the finishing still needs finessing. He’s underachieved on the xG front in his embryonic career so far, indeed.
GAMEWEEK 1 LINE-UP CLUES – NO LE FEE?
Unlike the Machiavellian Eddie Howe up the road, Le Bris wasn’t messing about with his two teamsheets.
The team against Augsburg looked full strength, with the line-up against Vallecano anything but.
Based on that evidence, Enzo Le Fee (£5.0m) looks set to be a starting XI casualty in Gameweek 1.
“We’ll have two or three players like Enzo, really close to the starting XI but at the same time, we have to make a choice because we can only play with 11 players.” – Regis Le Bris
Two £4.0m defenders, Jenson Seelt (£4.0m) and Reinildo Mandava (£4.0m), are in pole position to start against West Ham.
While Seelt is very likely a stopgap, Reinildo has an excellent chance to establish himself in the side longer term. He was lively at left-back, wriggling his way through to almost get a shooting chance not long before he won Sunderland’s penalty with another dash.
Robin Roefs (£4.5m) meanwhile looks set to start between the posts, having kept a clean sheet and saved a penalty against Augsburg.
Granit Xhaka (£5.0m) impressed again in midfield and hit the bar with one free-kick, while Diarra popped up in some eye-catchingly advanced positions and scored with one of his efforts. Simon Adingra (£5.5m) supplied the assist.
Sunderland XI against Augsburg: Roefs; Hume, Ballard, Seelt (J.Jones 83), Reinildo; Xhaka, Sadiki (Tuterovi 86), Diarra; Talbi, Adingra, Mayenda.
Sunderland XI against Vallecano: Patterson (Nna Noukeu 68); Huggins, Lavery (J. Jones 68), Triantis, H. Jones; Neil, Le Fée, Browne; Rigg (Aleksic 68), Roberts, Isidor (Tuterov 68).
defensive contributions