For clearing any confusion we may have on the formation line-up. ERIC Black believes Sunderland are about to get the best out of Stephane Sessegnon after an up-and-down campaign so far for the skilful Benin international. Sunderlandâs assistant manager admits efforts to mould a team around the African this season have not paid off. But he is confident that the club can still help the 27-year-old fulfil his potential after watching him flourish against West Brom earlier this month. He told the Echo: âStephane is a player of such quality that we started the season with a system designed around him. âThe 4-4-1-1 formation, with Stephane playing just behind the main striker, should have brought the best out of him. âWe were looking to get the ball to him as much as possible and give him the chance to turn and run at defences, which is one of his strengths. âBut, unfortunately, that system coincided with a dip in Stephaneâs form and, for whatever reason, it hasnât worked as we would have liked â maybe he lost a bit of form or confidence, maybe the team didnât gel as we would have hoped but, on all indicators, his stats were down from where they were last season.â The watershed moment came in last monthâs 2-1 defeat at Norwich City in which Sessegnon was awful, failing to get on to or hold on to the ball enough and snatching at every goalscoring opportunity, eventually shooting on sight from long range. âThat was when we knew we had to look at it again because when youâre feeling good and confident you donât play like that,â said Black. âYou donât just instantly go for goal every time, you have the confidence to take things on. âFor the West Brom game, we looked to push him forward into a more orthodox position so that not everything had to go through him, and he looked far more comfortable and far more like his natural self in that role.â Sunderland will go into Sundayâs match at Arsenal considering using Sessegnon as a lone striker, with on-loan Gunners forward Nicklas Bendtner unable to play against his parent club. The diminutive Sessegnon is not a natural choice as a solitary striker, but he scored three goals in Sunderlandâs final five games last season when he was played on his own up front. Black said: âThereâs a range of options for us this weekend and weâll look at them all before deciding what we think is the best way to go. âBut we are looking at how we get the best out of Stephane and I think as time progresses we are finding out exactly what works with him and what doesnât. âItâs important that we look to find ways of helping him flourish because heâs such a wonderful footballer with bags of talent and heâs one of those creative players who have the ability to change a game in an instant.â H Sunderland had a boost last night as Bendtner and Seb Larsson both got on the scoresheet in vital Euro 2012 qualifiers. Bendtner notched as Denmark beat Portugal in a winner-takes-all clash to win their group â and automatic qualification for next yearâs finals in Poland and Ukraine â while Larsson struck in Swedenâs fine win over Holland, guaranteeing an automatic slot as the best of the runners-up Anyone any wiser?
Looks to me like Sess up front on his own. Not a bad thing for me although many will undoubtedly disagree. Imperative that Gardner, Larsson, etc get in that box to support though.
Good to see they know it isnt working, but Sess upfront alone against Arsenal? Looks like we are playing for the draw, which is all we can do really as we suck at present.
At least Sess knows he needs to pack his boots for the trip to London! It can`t work playing him up front on his own though - surely SB must see that - if not I have a tape measure he can borrow!
Call it harsh but we are seemingly being led by tweedle dee and tweedle dumb. Sessegnon isn't a striker full stop and how those two can't see that beggars belief. To get the best out of him he needs two strikers ahead of him. Looks to me like we are going for the trusty 4-6-0 that was oh so effective at brighton.
"help the 27-year-old fulfil his potential" At 27 shouldnt he have reached it? Usually something you say for 20/21 year olds
He told the Echo: “Stephane is a player of such quality that we started the season with a system designed around him. I hope we have a plan b. What if he gets injured????????
Arsenal will have a stand in right back as sagna is out. we should be playing sess on the left to run at him and cut in onto his (probable) weaker left foot.
BREAKING NEWS: Black fired by Steve Bruce for stating that Plan A wasn't working The shock news came as no surprise after the statement, shown at the top of this thread, admitted This has meant that Steve Bruce has had to consider Plan B - which has confused him as his alphabet doesn't go that far
This is getting beyond a ****ing joke this like! If Bruce once again goes into a game with no recognised strikers im gonna go ****in mental! One 5"6" midfielder playing lone striker against arguably the worst defence in the league! Bruce, your a ****in prat if you do this!
One thing is, we have to find Balance - if we play 4 in the midfield then their midfield will undoubtedly control that part of the pitch - if we play 5 then we have a chance - but if we play 2 up front then we can't accommodate 5 in midfield - catch 22!! Wickham is carrying a knock and it's uinknown whether he'll be fit from a couple of reports I've seen. That leaves us with only 1 striker available - Ji Dong Won - play him up top - I'd also play Sessegnon on the left wing rather than in behind the striker and let him roam a bit - maybe put Richardson behind the striker although that'd leave us without a left back!! ****sake!! sick of it now and I wish I'd never started typing thi...
In Niall we Trust....totally agree with your clown comment...the guy does not have a clue,let alone a plan A or plan B!!!
