Sunderland are the surprise five-point leaders of the early Championship table which means the mood is somewhat different to the last time we met when they had lost seven of their previous eight games - we spoke with the What The Falk Podcast (@WhatTheFalkPod) and A Love Supreme (@ALS_Fanzine)...
Unreal start to the season from Sunderland, how surprised are you? What have you made of it?
WTF: I'm both surprised and not surprised. I was tearing my hair out last year because the little errors we were making as a club were so basic. I always knew we had some top, top quality young players but they were desperate for some experience to guide them. Add in Alan Browne, Chris Mepham and Simon Moore around the squad and dressing room, combined with the fact our young lads like Jobe have had an extra year of experience and it should work. We also have a striker now. We took a risk signing untested children from abroad upfront and it went awry. One of them has come good in Elizier Mayenda, while we've added Championship experience in Aaron Connolly and genuine quality in Wilson Isidor.
I always knew we could push for top eight if we went back to what we did in 22/23. People concentrated heavily on the youth we had in our team when we made the play-offs, but our spine was full of experience then in Danny Batth, Lynden Gooch, Alex Pritchard and Ross Stewart. Add in Amad being an absolute cheat code and you see more clearly why it worked. Are Mepham, Browne, Wilson etc all a step up? Probably. Add in Romaine Mundle completely negating the loss of Jack Clarke and we might actually be cooking here.
The new head coach was always a risk as I genuinely knew very little about him upon arrival. But he's excellent. He seems to enjoy the challenge of every game in the Championship and sets us up accordingly.
ALS: First of all, I need to apologise. This piece is going to be wholly positive overall, which makes a real change from years gone by. We’re still waiting for the wheels to fall off… It’s been really surprising for all of us. After the totally depressing 2023/24 season, finishing 16th, you would have probably expected us to push into the top half and maybe play-offs, but to be top of the league is insane. There’s a real togetherness in the squad. We had it under Tony Mowbray but that seemed to totally dissipate when your old friend Michael Beale took over. Momentum is huge in football and right now our team is feeling the benefit of that.
Sunderland in the league so far…
Cardiff 0-2 Sunderland O’Nien 18, Clarke 89
Sunderland 4-0 Sheff Wed Cirkin 11, Mayenda 15, 47, O’Nien 24
Sunderland 1-0 Burnley Mundle 26
Pompey 1-3 Sunderland O’Nien og 90 – Swanson og 31, Browne 51, Mundle 56
Plymouth 3-2 Sunderland Ballard og 54, Hardie pen 73, Edwards 90 – Roberts pen 24, Mundle 86
Sunderland 1-0 Boro Rigg 24
Watford 2-1 Sunderland Ebosele 28, Dele-Bashiru pen 84 – Isidor 49
Sunderland 2-0 Derby Bellingham 40, Isidor 55
Sunderland 2-2 Leeds Rigg 9, Firpo og 90 – Piroe 22, Firpo 56
Hull 0-1 Sunderland Isidor 63
Luton 1-2 Sunderland Adebayo 63 – Rigg 55, Mundle 66
Sunderland 2-0 Oxford Bellingham 16, Isidor 63
Obviously you had a dire end to the season last year, of which our classic 0-0 at the SOL was a clear highlight, how have you been able to turn it around from then to this?
WTF: I've probably alluded to a lot of the reasons we have turned it around. A tactically excellent head coach, solid experience couple with some of the best young talent in the division - perhaps the country. I've been very critical of the hierarchy for the numerous errors they made last year, but they've responded well this season. You can't knock momentum either. That plays such a big role.
ALS: To be honest I don’t remember that 0-0 at all! In the summer our recruitment team addressed the two main issues in the squad: experience, and an actual striker. Chris Mepham and Alan Browne in particular have provided that really solid spine in the middle, and it provides a base for our youngsters to actually thrive and learn from those older heads. Even though last season was horrible to watch and at the time we all hated it, it appears that the players have used it as a learning experience and are determined to right those wrongs. We’ve been killing games off which we would have lost last year and showing real quality and composure both in defence and attack. However, the obvious change came in the dugout…
Stupid question but we always ask about the manager - how's he settled in?!
WTF: He's been a real positive. He came in from a relegated side and took 120 days to appoint, so there was some scepticism, especially after last season. In a way, the time it took to appoint him helped in some ways. It got to a point where we just wanted to know who the new manager was so we could look forward. The final game of pre-season (against Marseille) had some really impressive signs, then we pressed the life out of Cardiff, Sheff Wed and Burnley and won three from three. We've seen a real change though, some games we've dropped right off and let team play, some games we've been resident and ground out results, and others we've dominated. He seems to enjoy different challenges you get from different games and sets us up accordingly. Hes working wonders with the young kids, which is his profile and history in France, but he's also managing to use the experience we have to his advantage. He could make sure a little earlier? But I'm splitting hairs. We've played two bad halves of football since he arrive. Give him a massive fucking statute at this rate.
ALS: Nobody had heard of Regis Le Bris when he was appointed but he has been a total revelation! He’s a real student of the game - you can tell just how much time he spends on the training ground and how much he studies each opposition. There have been a few times this season where we’ve struggled slightly in the first half, but he has shown his incredible tactical knowledge by making little tweaks at half time and changing the course of the game (see Luton away as the best example!). He’s said the right things in press conferences and bought into the area and the club’s history, so in return we’ve bought into him. RLB is extremely composed, you won’t see him waving his arms and screaming on the touchline, he’ll stand there with his arms folded or sit in the dugout making notes. A lot of Sunderland fans have said they haven’t felt as much confidence in a manager since Roy Keane led us to the Championship trophy back in 06/07…
Assessment of your summer transfer window activity?
WTF: Summer was important. We addressed a lot of the issues and it has helped influence what we've seen on the pitch. Alan Browne can't get in the team at the moment but has been a top addition. We lost Jack Clarke, which was massive, but - whisper it quietly - we've not noticed much because Romaine Mundle has been equally as productive. The big ones are Wilson Isidor and Chris Mepham, though. I've not seen a player "get" the club so quickly in regards to big Wilson. He's mad as a box of frogs, and we saw it from day one. He's absolutely class off the pitch, but genuinely quality on it. He's scored 4 in 7 starts and has scored two worldies recently. We absolutely love him. As for Mepham, he's just class. A Premier League quality defender in a Championship team and it shows.
ALS: Well, we brought in not one experienced striker but two, so we were buzzing. We’ve got experience all over the squad now - both in the starting XI and on the bench. Of course, Jack Clarke’s exit was disappointing (we felt we could have gotten a better price for him with less than a week left in the window). We didn’t sign a direct replacement which was a concern at the time but Romaine Mundle has filled those shoes without any issues.
Ins >>> Milan Aleksic, 19, CM, Radnicki (Serbia), £3m >>> Ahmed Abdullahi, 20, CF, Gent, £1m >>> Alan Browne, 29, CM, Preston, Free >>> Ian Poveda, 24, RW, Leeds, Free >>> Simon Moore, 34, GK, Coventry, Free >>> Blondy Nna Noukeu, 22, GK, Stoke, Free >>> Aaron Connolly, 24, CF, Unattached, Free >>> Wilson Isidor, 23, CF, Zenit, Loan Salis Abdul Samed, 24, DM, Lens, Loan >>> Chris Mepham, 26, CB, Bournemouth, Loan
Outs >>> Jack Clarke, 23, LW, Ipswich, £15m >>> Elliot Embleton, 25, AM, Blackpool, Undisclosed >>> Luis Semedo, 21, CF, Juve B, Undisclosed >>> Jack Diamond, 24, LW, Stockport, Free >>> Ellis Taylor, 21, LW, Harrogate, Free >>> Alex Bass, 26, GK, Notts County, Undisclosed >>> Nathan Bishop, 24, GK, Wycombe, Loan >>> Bradley Dack, 30, AM, Gillingham, Free >>> Corry Evans, 33, CM, Released >>> Pierre Ekwah, 22, CM, Saint-Etienne, Loan >>> Timothee Pembele, 21, RB, le Havre, Loan >>> Nathan Bishop, 24, GK, Wycombe, Loan >>> Jay Matete, 23, CM, Bolton, Loan >>> Nectarios Triantis, 21, CB, Hibs, Loan
Stand out players and weak links in the side?
WTF: Stand outs? Where do I start? For me Jobe has been the stand out, but I feel like everyone will have their own. Jobe just turned 19 and he's absolutely bossing the midfield every week. He's huge, got a fantastic range of passing and looks Premier League ready. Alongside him is 17-year-old Chris Rigg who is perhaps the biggest young talent I've ever witnessed at the club. Brave, smart and disgustingly talented. The truth is, even if we win the league with 100 points, it'll be hard to hold onto both of these players. They're top, top quality players. Dennis Cirkin has been dropping 8/10 performances every single week, Luke O'Nien is growing with every performance and leads up from the back. Isidor is scoring goals, and Patrick Roberts is murdering defenders at will. Did I mention Mundle has replaced Jack Clarke with ease? Honestly, I could wax lyrical about them all at the minute. They've been absolutely class and I'm buzzing. Dan Neil has took a while to adapt to his deeper role, but has been class in the last three games and our goalkeeper Anthony Patterson isn't likely to be fit for Saturday, but Simon Moore seems an experienced and solid pair of hands. I want to tell you where we're shit, but we've been class so far.
ALS: Speaking of Mundle, the winger isn’t the finished product but arguably has a higher ceiling than Clarke. As well as cutting in and curling one into the top corner, which was Clarke’s trademark, Mundle is just as confident going on the outside and putting a cross in. Wilson Isidor has all the hallmarks of a future cult hero: he’s scored four goals in his last five starts including a solo goal against Hull running the length of the pitch and a volley with his back to goal against Oxford. He idolises Thierry Henry and you can see that in his goals. Special mention to Chris Rigg, the 17-year-old boy who looks like he’s played professional football for a decade. The same goes for Jobe Bellingham actually.
In terms of weak links, each player has excelled this season but Anthony Patterson missed the Oxford game with a niggle. If he’s not back for Saturday, Simon Moore will start once more. He had literally nothing to do against Oxford but I’d expect him to face a tougher challenge against you guys. He’s 34 and an EFL veteran but we haven’t seen much of him at all. Also, fullback depth is a big issue although our starters, Dennis Cirkina and Trai Hume, are probably the best pairing in the league.
Revised expectations for the season? Do you see this promotion push sustaining
WTF: I'd have bit your hand off for top six in August, but it would be a massive disappointment if we didn't do play-offs minimum now. We keep asking 'when do we get excited' and people keep telling us 'we're not that good', but we're five points clear at the top and have the seventh best start of any Championship team in history. So I think I'll just keep enjoying it, and see where it goes. Leeds are the best side we've faced so far, and if they're the best the league has, I'm confident automatics aren't impossible on current for. But...yeah, long old season and loads of games to go.
ALS: Right now, I fancy us for automatic promotion. With Regis Le Bris in charge it feels like we’ve got a stable coach who can keep getting the best out of this talented squad. However, every team has a spell of poor results so at this point I’d still take play-offs. What a position to be in, though.
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