Sunderland winger Nilson Angulo made his full debut for the club in midweek.
On the one hand, he was coming up against a right-back who, in the grand pecking order of Liverpool’s defensive options, only ranks a couple of places above the fella who pretends to be Ringo Starr in The Bootleg Beatles. On the other, regardless of form and consistent inconsistency, we are still talking about the defending Premier League champions here, and based on the hypothesis that good players don’t become bad players overnight, there was always a likelihood that Arne Slot’s side could dominate proceedings at the Stadium of Light, and that Angulo, by extension, would be left feeding on scraps and chasing shadows.
In the end, the Ecuadorian’s midweek outing probably landed somewhere nearer to that particular version of events than he might have liked, but there are still reasons to be quietly optimistic having now watched him make his first start in red and white.
For one thing, you suspect that under the right circumstances, Angulo is going to be an awful lot of fun. Opportunities to properly strut his stuff on Wednesday night may have been relatively scarce, but there were still moments from which his natural flair spilled out encouragingly. He radiates an inclination for the audacious, is brimming with a wily inventiveness, and posted out on the left wing, he wields that right boot of his like a flick knife. We may have to reconcile ourselves to the fact that not everything he attempts is going to come off, but when it does, the South American has the potential to be a crowd-pleaser of the highest order.
On the early evidence, there is also a directness to Angulo that bodes well. He will cut inside (and maybe even inside again), and he will look to get his shot away whenever and wherever possible. Judging by the YouTube highlight reels set to pounding loops of royalty-free Eurodance that keep popping up on my social media timelines, he will more than likely score his fair share of screamers too.
Against Liverpool, one notable dart inwards resulted in a fairly tame bobbler down Alisson Becker’s gullet, but the fact that the Black Cats new boy created the opening for himself at all was, at the very least, promising.
In fact, much of Angulo’s performance was fairly heartening. The anonymity that dogged stretches of Wednesday’s contest was more symptomatic of the balance of play than anything he, on an individual level, was guilty of, and after the interval, when Sunderland did grow into the match somewhat despite eventually falling behind on the hour-mark, he too looked to settle into a more assured rhythm.
If we’re being picky then perhaps on occasion he could have done more to support Reinildo Mandava in his defensive duties, and there were times when the 22-year-old seemed to be drifting when a more diligent or experienced presence would have been dropping in to help consolidate his side’s shape. That being said, such discipline will hopefully come with time and an ever-increasing familiarity with Regis Le Bris’ expectations of him.
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Indeed, as is so often the case, the head coach himself probably put it best. "The gap in the Premier League is big, so it's still important to give him time and support," Le Bris told a post-match press conference. "I think he showed good quality at times with the ball and good composure. He had the opportunity to attack the box three or four times. Now he needs to learn."
And where better to continue his tuition in the English game than down at the Kassam Stadium on Sunday afternoon? The prospect of important minutes against a beatable Oxford United side - who themselves will be looking to provide a stern test for Le Bris’ upwardly mobile Premier League interlopers - feels like a great chance for Angulo to showcase his abilities, further adapt to the rigours and pace of a different style of football, and ultimately build those vital “connections” that we have heard his new boss reference umpteen times since his own arrival on Wearside.
Already, however fleeting they may have been, we have seen glimpses of the player that Angulo can become for Sunderland. Now it’s a case of affording him the patience and platform to bring that talent to the fore.
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