Write the Black Cats off at your peril - their summer recruitment drive is already bearing fruit after a sensational victory over West Ham
Here’s a warning to the Premier League – turn up at Sunderland with the same whiff of complacency that emanated from West Ham on Saturday and you can expect a bloody nose.
The Black Cats are a proper unknown quantity this season. There is no appetite on Wearside to navel-gaze about the bigger picture or embark on a recruitment drive that doubles up as an insurance policy in case they’re relegated.
Unlike last year’s three promoted clubs, who turned up and barely landed a jab in anger as they dutifully shuffled off back down to the Championship –
Instead Sunderland have – in the words of one senior source – decided to “have a go” this summer, exhausting director of football Florent Ghisolfi’s contacts book and maxing out the club’s credit card to create an entirely new team.
Focus on youth
The recruitment drive currently stands at 12 new players. Two more, it’s understood, are close to arriving (one is Paris Saint Germain’s Nordi Mukiele) and on Saturday they had a new goalkeeper, a midfield three that had never played a competitive game together and wingers either side of them making their debuts.
The other thing that stands out is the youth of this side. With the exception of Granit Xhaka they haven’t signed a player over 30 this summer.
The average age of Sunderland’s starting line-up for this game was 24 years and one month. West Ham’s was 28.
A bold philosophy
It’s a risky strategy. Not a bankrupt-the-club sort of jeopardy but having seven debutants on day one feels like a “Go big or go home” sort of philosophy. How refreshing, then, that the bravery of boss Regis Le Bris and recruitment team was rewarded with what felt like a statement win.
Victim number one were Graham Potter’s insipid Hammers. Words can’t describe how poor they were in a second half where Sunderland ran them over with their energy and dynamism.
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Xhaka’s experience will be vital (Photo: Reuters)
Even more worrying was Potter’s attempts to excuse it in the press conference afterwards, talking of fine margins, failing to cope in “moments” and suggesting Sunderland’s gameplan amounted to just swinging balls into the box.
More fool Potter and anyone else who takes Sunderland lightly this season. They are far from infallible – for half an hour in the first half they struggled to gain a foothold in the contest – but they have energy and embrace risk in a way that could make them a surprise package this season.
In The i Paper’s pre-season predictions I tipped them to finish 14th this season, which drew comments from contacts. But this could be a strange old campaign, with nine Premier League teams in Europe and potentially vulnerable from midweek exertions.
Think about it: would you want this youthful team, roared on by a Stadium of Light that seems galvanised by being underdogs, running at you after a European trip?
Four excellent signings
It’s all hypotheticals in August but an opening day victory gives Sunderland some momentum and belief.
In Robin Roefs they look to have unearthed an excellent goalkeeper and Habib Diarra, the club record summer signing, was outstanding on his Premier League bow.
Add into that mix the wily old head of Xhaka – crucial during West Ham’s period of dominance in the first half – and 20-year-old Noah Sadiki and it feels like there are some foundations to build on here.
It was crucial that they got off to a good start. Much has been made of their gentle reintroduction to the Premier League – they travel to Burnley next before facing a Brentford side in a period of flux – but if West Ham are a mediocre side they’re still a Premier League staple.
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They arrived here with Lucas Paqueta conducting affairs in midfield and Jarrod Bowen his usual effervescent self. In theory, they’re no mugs.
But neither, it seems, are Sunderland. After riding a period of West Ham pressure in the first half they emerged in the second period with more belief. Le Bris, whose reading of games is seriously astute, had made alterations and Eliezer Mayenda’s brilliant angled header was just reward.
It got better when Dan Ballard nodded a second – how sweet that was for a player who joined when Sunderland’s journey was in its relative infancy in 2022 – before Wilson Isidor’s breakaway sealed a superb win.
The Stadium of Light was in raptures, with fans clad in red, white and the brilliant blue of their stylish away shirt singing about being top of the league (which they were, on alphabetical order).
They’re not daft enough to assume there won’t be hardship and suffering this season but, equally, there’s the potential for it to be an enjoyable ride for Le Bris’ disruptors.