Not sure where to post this, so I'll hoy it in here https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/sep/26/sunderland-premier-league-training-data-analysis
If Football Insider said it was sunny outside, I'd take a coat, an umbrella and a canoe withe to go out.
Glad you did mate....loved that. Louise Taylor has long been reporting on us and,I think, has a good take on our ups and downs.....dare I say....with more than a smattering of affection!
What a load of ****e that sits mind. Got sent off so he is a flop. Bloke was free and been class before his mistake at the weekend they know **** all and thats without mentioning him not being a right back!
Good read that! On the coaching team additions who was it turned down the mags? Was that a coach or the director of football?
Six reasons Sunderland have shocked the Premier League - and aren't going away Regis Le Bris is driving exceptionally high standards at the Stadium of Light Sunderland’s flying start to the Premier League season may have surprised the wider footballing world but it is no shock to those inside the club. The Black Cats always believed their blueprint would give them a better chance of survival than some of the clubs that have been promoted and then fallen straight back through the relegation trapdoor. But with 11 points on the board, there is a sense that they have the perfect platform to survive and thrive this season. This is how they got here – and why they are here to stay. Granit Xhaka Granit Xhaka’s leadership is rubbing off on his teammates. There was a moment during a break in play during Sunderland’s 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace earlier this month that felt instructive. While half of the visiting team went over the touchline to listen to head coach Regis Le Bris, there was another crop of players huddled around Granit Xhaka, listening intently to the midfielder delivering a speech about the importance of concentration. Xhaka isn’t just one of the team’s most important players, he is also one of their leaders and it says much about Le Bris’ management that he is happy for the Switzerland international to assume that role. “It’s a self-policing dressing room,” one source says. For all that Le Bris is the biggest voice during the week, he leaves it to Xhaka and other influential players to deliver the messaging on match days. It helps that Xhaka is delivering on the pitch. A wonderful assist – his third of the season – was the icing on the cake of one of the most complete performances from a holding midfielder you will see this season. Alongside Noah Sadiki, who is looking like another astute piece of business, there is a fine engine room partnership developing with the 20-year-old doing much of the leg work to allow the 33-year-old veteran to shine. The culture When Sunderland were in advanced talks with players in the summer, they sent a two-and-a-half minute video over WhatsApp to showcase the city, club and culture they would be joining. It is inspirational stuff, apparently, splicing together what it means to represent the Black Cats. “Buy in,” one insider calls it. Extensive due diligence was done on the characters who arrived in the summer and, to a man, they seem like impressive people. Sadiki can speak four languages, for example. They have been sold a vision of “putting Sunderland back on the map” and there is genuine ambition to make a mark this season. “They don’t see themselves as some great underdog story,” a source says. “They expect to win games in the Premier League and, perhaps because they’re young, there’s tremendous belief.” They will go to Old Trafford this weekend expecting to beat Manchester United. Robin Roefs In a summer of eye-watering spending across the Premier League, there is a very convincing argument to be made that the £12m Sunderland paid NEC Nijmegen to sign Robin Roefs might be the best money spent. You can understand why others didn’t take the plunge. There wasn’t much of a body of work to call on – less than 40 senior games in the Eredivisie – and there were more experienced goalkeepers on the market for risk-averse recruitment teams. Robin Roefs has arguably been the best signing of the summer. Enter Sunderland, who are never afraid to crunch the numbers and take a calculated gamble. Their conviction has absolutely paid off so far. Roefs made six big saves at Nottingham Forest to add to match-winning or saving performances against West Ham on the opening day and at fellow Premier League surprise packages Crystal Palace earlier this month. Sunderland were seeking a definitive upgrade on Anthony Patterson and they have just that. His command of his penalty area is seriously impressive, he carries himself impeccably and at just 22 seems to have a seriously impressive future ahead of him. If Sunderland deserve praise for recruiting character as well as capable players, Roefs must be near the top of that list. He exudes authority in his penalty area and in the dressing room. Regis Le Bris A singular, driven character, Le Bris is an absolute workaholic. Consistently first in and last out at the training ground, insiders describe a man who is consumed by the role and “gives everything” to it. He is also hugely ambitious, always seeing himself as someone who would manage in the Premier League, and has been compared more than once to Arsene Wenger. Tactically he has taken to the Premier League very smoothly but his Sunderland team are not wedded to a philosophy. “Pragmatic” is how he describes himself and his Black Cats have been built not to shirk any of the physical demands of the top flight. Sources speak of an alignment between him, director of football Florent Ghisolfi and owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus which has allowed the recruitment process to be seamless. They absolutely back him. Ruthlessness One insider put it fairly succinctly: “If we’d gone into a Premier League season with last year’s squad we’d have got relegated.” That belief informed the urgency with which Sunderland recruited and invested. In almost every position they were looking to upgrade and The i Paper understands that there is scope to recruit further in January if they need to. They had scouts out in France last weekend. Le Bris is amiable, polite and unassuming in public. But the standards he drives are high and the way Sunderland have been able to move up a level this summer sent a message to the players who were already at the club – no-one can feel too comfortable. Bigger tests ahead Sunderland have benefited from a fixture list that, with hindsight, has been kind. They have played a struggling West Ham and the two toughest games on paper have been against Villa and Forest who are both in the midst of a transition period. But they also went to Palace and earned a battling point. The buzz around the city is fantastic and there is a feeling inside the dressing room that they deserve to be where they are. This is a confident bunch that will fancy their chances when the bigger games – and sterner tests – start.
