Jocelin Ta Bi made his debut for Sunderland in the FA Cup fourth round win over Oxford
First and foremost, the caveats. It was ten minutes against tiring opposition, a Championship side who were having to chase the game and leaving plenty of space behind them as a result. To draw too many conclusions from this spell of the game would be folly, but as first impressions go this was very promising from Jocelin Ta Bi.
The young winger arrived in January as something of a rarity in terms of Sunderland's recruitment over the last two windows, a genuinely inexperienced player operating at a level where there isn't much to access in terms of footage or data. Sunderland have continued to sign young players since winning promotion to the Premier League, but primarily from bigger European leagues and with a lot of senior appearances under their belt. Ta Bi's arrival was a considerably bigger gamble on Sunderland's part, and with a significantly smaller transfer fee as a result.
What Sunderland saw in their scouting and data analysis was a player with rare attributes not easy to find: a tenacious player uniquely good with the ball at his feet. Well worth the gamble, in short. Ta Bi wasn't able to crown a promising cameo at the Kassam Stadium with a goal, firing one effort just wide of the near post as he drove infield, but those attributes were on show nevertheless.
As Dennis Cirkin later told The Echo, it was a very solid start both in and out of possession: "He's progressed into training with the group quite recently and I thought he was outstanding today. He showed his 1v1 ability, quick to second balls as well, so that's brilliant for us. He's another winger that's tricky and can add to our squad, so I'm excited to see more of him and go up against him in training."
It was reassuring to see Ta Bi clearly operating at full fitness after the uncertainty that surrounded an ankle injury when he first arrived at the club. Sunderland were confident after their own assessment that the 21-year-old would be fully up to speed after a few weeks and that has proven to be the case. His close control, speed and above all else his physicality suggested that he might just be ready to play a bigger part this season than was initially assumed. His decision making wasn't perfect and clearly there is going to be a lot to work on in the weeks, months and indeed years ahead, but the fundamentals looked sound. Ta Bi also passed the simplest but most revealing of footballing tests: His team mates swiftly trusted him enough to move the ball to him quickly and regularly.
There was a hint from Régis Le Bris shortly after Ta Bi's arrival that the club were quietly hopeful he could make a relatively swift impact, the head coach was careful not to raise expectations too high but notably didn’t talk down the prospects of him coming into the fold quite quickly. Sunderland's philosophy is to give young players opportunities before other clubs would consider doing the same and Ta Bi's debut made you wonder whether he might well be the next to benefit over the coming months. Clearly, the intensity and quality of a Premier League game is another level up entirely and it isn't realistic at this stage to expect the youngster to feature week in, week out and certainly not as a regular starter.
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Bertrand Traoré is expected to be back from injury in around a fortnight and his absence, first due to AFCON and then due to injury, has only underlined his importance to Le Bris and his status as first choice on the right flank. Traoré rarely plays 90 minutes, though, and Le Bris doesn't currently have another winger in his squad who naturally drives infield from the right flank. He has other options and ones he will continue to use, such as Trai Hume's hybrid role or Chemsdine Talbi as a more traditional right-footed right winger, but Ta Bi looks like he could be a very effective impact player and particularly in a game that has opened up in the latter stages. Much of Sunderland’s attacking structure is built around getting the ball quickly to the wingers and backing them to make something happen in 1-v-1 situations. To ask Ta Bi to go up against experienced Premier League full backs is at this stage a big ask, but it was almost immediately obviously why he was recruited and in those final minutes of the game there was a pleasing balance to the Sunderland side.
Competition for places in the Sunderland squad is growing but new energy and more depth in the squad can never be a bad thing. Ta Bi's debut left you excited to see more, and for a winger that's always a very good place to start.
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