The latest episode of The Roar podcast, brought to you by the Sunderland Echo, is now live.
At the time of writing, it is probably fair to suggest that Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris is not entirely certain as to who his best starting options in wide areas are.
The Black Cats boss has heavily rotated his wingers in recent weeks, with the likes of Nilson Angulo, Chemsdine Talbi, Romaine Mundle, Jocelin Ta Bi, and even Trai Hume given runs out on the flank at various points. Meanwhile, Bertrand Traore, who impressed earlier in the campaign, is still working his way back to full fitness following a period of injury absence.
But with Ta Bi and Mundle both sustaining potential knocks against Fulham at the weekend, and with those tricky berths out wide still to be nailed down, how should Sunderland look to solve the ongoing conundrum moving forward?
What is the latest on Sunderland’s winger situation?
Speaking on the latest episode of The Roar podcast, brought to you by The Echo, Sunderland writer Jason Jones said: “I do wonder if all this chopping and changing is necessarily helping any of the players involved. You talk about inexperience, and you’re absolutely right to, but if we’re talking about a player like Chemsdine Talbi... There have been flashes this season where he’s shown that he absolutely has the talent to succeed at this level. There have been so many wonderful moments, and even just in terms of his raw physicality - his speed, his willingness to put himself about a bit - it’s really promising stuff, but how does he develop that on a consistent basis if he’s in and out of the side every couple of games? And you could say the same for any of them, truth be told.
“I do think that there are plenty of encouraging signs from Angulo. Didn’t quite happen for him against Fulham, and there was obviously a bad miss as well, on his part, coming in at the back post, but by and large, especially in that first half, you could see why Le Bris has been so willing to introduce him into the side as swiftly as he has.
“I think it’s, again, really telling that Jocelin Ta Bi - a player who we really weren’t sure if we would see in the first team at all, if we’re being honest, this season - has come in and, within a fortnight [of his return to fitness] has been given a full Premier League debut. I think that speaks to Le Bris, like you say, constantly searching for the right combination to click into place to ignite something here.
“As for Ta Bi’s performance, again, it’s completely understandable that he’s going to take a little while to adjust to the rigours of the Premier League - he’s just come from the Israeli top flight, the gulf in class is immense. But I did also think that, prior to his injury, there were moments where I thought, ‘Actually, do you know what, based on what he’s producing here, his profile - as Le Bris refers to it - yeah, there’s something there’. And maybe with a bit of time and a bit of development, he can become a real option for Sunderland.”
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He continued: “I do think that once Bertrand Traore is back, at this present moment in time, I see no reason why he doesn’t just walk straight back into the side, because I think, especially prior to AFCON and prior to the injury, he was really building up a nice head of steam, a little bit of momentum, a little bit of consistency, really finding his rhythm. And so I think him coming back into the side would be a real boost for Sunderland.
“And then I think you’re in a position where - and this is something we’ve spoke about a lot - so many of the players who obviously prefer to play on that left flank are then not being asked to play out of position and also adjust to the Premier League at the same time. If you can get Traore back and settled in on the right, and then find whoever your best option might be on the left, then hopefully we’ll start to see a little bit of improvement in that regard.”
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