Match Day Thread Chelsea FC v Sunderland AFC - Saturday 25th October 2025 - KO 15:00

A decent read from The Athletic

Are Sunderland good?

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Chemsdine Talbi celebrates at Stamford Bridge Ian Horrocks

By Cerys Jones and Anantaajith Raghuraman
Oct. 26, 2025Updated 4:05 pm GMT
At first glance, Sunderland’s 2-1 win at Chelsea looks like a smash-and-grab upset. It was much more than that.

When Regis Le Bris’ side returned to the Premier League after eight years away, there were questions. How would a manager with limited top-flight experience get so many new players to gel quickly? How would the team with the worst defensive record of the three promoted sides stand up to elite attackers? Did Granit Xhaka really understand what he was getting himself into?


The answers now seem to be: with ease, superbly, and yes.

Before Sunday’s fixtures, Sunderland sit second in the Premier League, two points behind leaders Arsenal and have the joint-third best defensive record. One of the final sticks to beat them with was how they would stand up to a Champions League team, and they answered that on Saturday.

The result at Stamford Bridge was a shock, but there wasn’t much about Sunderland’s game that was out of the ordinary. This was far from a fluke; it was a culmination of all Le Bris’ Sunderland have built.

When Nordi Mukiele allowed Alejandro Garnacho space to poke an opener under Robin Roefs after four minutes, it would have been understandable if the wheels came off. Sunderland had only recorded one win away from home in the league so far, in Ange Postecoglou’s first home game in charge at Nottingham Forest. Chelsea were on a four-game winning streak in all competitions, including against Liverpool.

But even after that early goal, it was clear Le Bris had no intention of rolling over. He spent the aftermath of Garnacho’s opener showing off an impressive finger whistle to get his players’ attention and make slight tweaks. As the minutes went by, those whistles became less and less frequent as Sunderland settled.

“After probably 15 minutes, we found the right balance,” Le Bris said after the match. “I didn’t change the game plan because it was the way we wanted to build this game, but when you are on the pitch, it’s different.

“It’s sometimes difficult to find the right balance, and we still have a really young squad with a limited share of experience, so we have to learn from different situations.”

They learned immediately from Garnacho’s goal. Sunderland were playing, unusually, with a back five and after conceding, they quickly started doubling up on the Chelsea winger to deny him space to cut into. Winger Bertrand Traore did his fair share of defensive work, shutting down space in the right channel, and Trai Hume was industrious in pushing up to aid attacks and recovering to avoid being exploited on the counter.

That was an example of how Sunderland elected to play to their own strengths, rather than fearing Chelsea’s. Le Bris explained after the match that they had expected plenty of pressure on the wings as they had made a conscious decision to focus on closing off the central areas.

With Estevao, Garnacho, Jamie Gittens, and Pedro Neto all in Chelsea’s ranks, it was a gamble to direct pressure down the flanks — but as we can see from Chelsea’s pass map on the left of the dashboard, it was successful. Chelsea’s wingers were their main attacking threats, and Sunderland’s block stopped them from gaining ground in the central areas.

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Their impressive handling of defence and attack plays out neatly in the example below from the 73rd minute. As Chelsea look to mount another attack, their block is impenetrable; Le Bris, after the game, described it as “connected, really strong, hard to beat”.

We can see that in the way Sunderland’s players shift together across the pitch while still maintaining discipline in their shape and closing off key threats.

Note how Wilson Isidor is closely marking key Chelsea playmaker Moises Caicedo: the Sunderland striker was disciplined in doing so throughout the game. Even in Chelsea’s defensive half, he stuck to closing off their main creator Caicedo rather than being tempted to press the back line.

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When Chelsea try to move through the centre, Sunderland smother it and have the chance to counter — but show crucial patience.

In the first frame, Isidor on the ball has the option of trying to turn and drive into the open space behind Chelsea’s back line, but spots Enzo Le Fee on the left…

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Laying it off to Le Fee allows Sunderland attackers time to get forward, including Xhaka, who is only denied by a Josh Acheampong block. He also had the option to pass to Chemsdine Talbi, who has done well to get up the pitch and who Marc Cucurella is not tight to.

In that roughly 40-second snapshot, Sunderland showcase their defensive discipline, intelligence in build-up, and counter-attacking threat — none of which are new. Those same attributes have characterised their incredible start to the season.



Their summer investment is also paying off. Le Bris described Xhaka as “like a second coach on the pitch”, bringing experience to an otherwise young squad. Twenty-year-old Noah Sadiki, who joined from Union Saint-Gilloise, worked exceptionally hard in midfield. Lutsharel Geertruida, on his first start for the club, performed well, and Le Bris praised how the 25-year-old had “stayed positive” despite being lower down the pecking order.

“I’m happy for him, and happy for our finishers, and the players who are not so much involved so far,” Le Bris said.

Fittingly, the winner came from Le Bris’ faith in his summer signings. Geertruida picked out Brian Brobbey with a long ball, and he was given an inexplicably long time to hold up play in the box as his colleagues ran up to join him. He found fellow substitute Talbi, who slotted home.

Yes, the winner came from route one football. Yes, Chelsea should have put in a challenge, should have tracked Talbi, should have put the game to bed by following up on Garnacho’s opener. None of that will keep Le Bris or his players awake tonight. Instead, they will be remembering the roar of the away end, and the celebrations after the final whistle.

This win played out dramatically, but was built from the quiet competence, smart signings, and stellar game management that have made Sunderland this season’s surprise package.

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By Cerys Jones and Anantaajith Raghuraman


https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6750099/2025/10/26/sunderland-premier-league-chelsea/

 

https://x.com/24ftbI/status/1982112793160466599

 

I enjoyed this one...
"A shambolic display from our boys"

 

Twitter is full of idiots claiming that Roefs punched Sideshow bob! When every angle clearly sees Riefs punch the ball and Bob hit his arm, then roll around like the bairn he is!!

 

LE ONE AND ONLY Chelsea-slaying Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris is new Arsene Wenger with knack for finding hidden transfer gems

‘WHO on earth is Chemsdine Talbi?’ would’ve been a common question asked by Chelsea fans on Saturday.

They know to take him and Sunderland very seriously now.

The Moroccan winger sent the visiting end of Stamford Bridge into raptures with a 93rd-minute winner to lift his side to second in the Premier League.
However, Talbi, 20, is just one of several names your average football fan has never heard of in the Sunderland squad, begging the question: ‘What exactly is going on up there?’

Régis Le Bris‘ men have been the story of the season, a team carefully constructed of little-known gems, built not on ego, but on an ability to stay in games, togetherness and belief.

The sharp-suited French boss has something very Arsène Wenger about him, with a knack for finding hidden talents, he’s turned Sunderland into the Premier League’s most entertaining surprise package.

At the peak of his playing career, Le Bris was a centre-half for Rennes, with whom he spent five seasons before dropping into the second tier, before retiring to become a coach.

As a youth coach, he shone at Rennes again, leading to him being offered a shot at Lorient as the manager of the club’s reserve team.
He built a reputation in France for giving young players a chance and for his tactical prowess, despite Lorient being relegated to Ligue 2 under his command after initial success.

Le Bris was then spotted by Sunderland’s owners as the man to lead their project, rather than just manage their team.
Like Wenger’s early Arsenal, Le Bris’s revolution is built on clever scouting and trusting players many others didn’t even look twice at, but it still didn’t come cheap.

The club spent £161m on 14 new players this summer, a record for a promoted side, and oversaw 17 outgoings, including players key to their unlikely promotion, such as Jobe Bellingham and Tom Watson

Outside of the Premier League, only Real Madrid spent more than them in Europe.

Last season proved that, as a promoted club, spending big does not guarantee survival, though.

Le Bris deserves immense credit for buying in so many strays and turning them into dangerous Black Cats.

Nine of the Sunderland squad who featured against Chelsea were signed this summer, and their winner was scored by a combination of three new recruits, Lutsharel Geertruida, 25, Brian Brobbey, 23, and Talbi.

Starring forward and scorer of Saturday’s first Sunderland goal, Wilson Isidor, 25, leads the line.

The French frontman drew comparisons with Thierry Henry for his celebration, something even he wouldn’t have been able to fathom when he joined Le Bris’s side on loan after scoring just one goal in three games for Zenit two seasons ago.

22-year-old Robin Roefs in goal has endured a spectacular start to life in the Premier League, having been signed from NEC Nijmegen in the Netherlands for £9m this summer.

At the back, they splashed out £9.5m on former PSG defender Nordi Mukiele, 27, highly rated as a youngster at RB Leipzig before a big move to the French capital, where he struggled to make an impact before getting his Premier League shot.

The man glueing it all together is ex-Arsenal skipper Granit Xhaka.

Mocked by some when he left Champions League Leverkusen for Wearside, the 33-year-old has been nothing short of transformational for Sunderland, leading the team in assists and chances created, but also being their most combative man in the middle.

He’s simultaneously the heartbeat and brain of the side, and not the only star with Champions League experience brought in by Le Bris.

Mozambique international Reinildo Mandava, 31, arrived in England for nothing, having spent the past three years with Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid.

The left-back told SunSport of Xhaka’s importance: “Granit is a very big player and talking about him is special. He has such a good mind, he’s different, at such a high level.

“I’m telling you, he has too much quality, not only on the pitch, but off the pitch. When we’re in training, he tries to push us, to pass his experience on. That is very special. I’m very proud to play with him, it’s a dream.”

“We knew it would be a hard game against a big team, but we played together, we suffered together. When we play like this together, good things come because we are working as a team, it’s not about individuals.”

Reinildo added: “Everyone knows the target needs to be to stay in the Premier League. We keep going, keep fighting and at the end, we’ll see where we are.”
“Don’t talk about winning the title. We’re going game by game. We know our objectives, so we will keep going, but for now, just fighting until the next weekend.”

For now, where they are is second in the table, and while the players remain humble, the fans who were bouncing in the away end on Saturday feel this could be more than a survival story.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/3713...QPTtjAjv5PbYWgJrog_aem_gs-_2BtzMQ6ZyYJWN2btow

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Le Bris is superb but he's a coach not a scout, if anyone thinks he's identifying and bringing these players in they're mistaken. Credit goes elsewhere for that.

'22-year-old Robin Roefs in goal has endured a spectacular start to life in the Premier League' probably sums up the general logic of the writing in that piece.

 

This is all starting to look like a pisstake now

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"> Scenes you need to see.<br><br>On the Road drops tomorrow <a href="https://t.co/l3wpoYofAy">pic.twitter.com/l3wpoYofAy</a></p>&mdash; Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) <a href="">October 26, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Chemsdine Talbi the Chelsea Dagger.

 

True and true. I enjoyed the spirit of the article, all the same!

 

Can't agree with this line:

"should have put the game to bed by following up on Garnacho’s opener."

How can ya write an article saying the team basically stopped Chelsea doing anything apart from the opener but say they should put it to bed?

Should have put it to bed is one of them matches where they have chance after chance but they just can't finish due to ****e finishing! We all know the type of performance how the **** did they now score that! Chelsea didn’t have that they had posession but didn’t land a blow with it. In all honesty I think Wolves missed more decent chances than Chelsea had!

We will be continually looked at as lucky, snatch and grab win etc... all because we are happy, prefer to even give the opposition plenty of possession. I'm sure we can all live with the media and other fans chatting **** based on stats!

 

Well said mate.

I saw a clip of some Scottish pundit, on American sports, who openly claimed Sunderland didn’t have the ball in the Chelsea half between our two goals.

I can remember half a dozen good chances.

The funniest was when Xhaka went through and should’ve squared it for a tap in. When he didn’t you could see Talbi was fuming but turned away rather than screaming at Xhaka like he wanted to

 

The next 9 are ( to make it to the half way stage of the PL)

Everton
Arsenal
Fulham
Bournemouth
Liverpool
Man City
Mags, scum, them, the overly protected about our airport people
Brighton
Leeds

Realistically, how many?

 

We had the better chances 100% anyone claiming we did **** all other than the 2 goals is talking ****e! Wilson hit the side netting, Ballard had a header he didn't do aswell as he usally does with maybe should have squared, Xhaka chance and the two goals. Then there was plenty of attacking intent with a few nearly moments like Isidor sliding for that loose ball!

We 100% deserved that win and anyone suggesting we parked the bus, put 11 men behind the ball, battened down the hatches etc... and snuck a win is talking ****! The defence is well organised and full of quality so we limit the other team to few chances while allowing them to have plenty of possession which is very different to sticking 11 men behind the ball and chucking bodies in front of every shot hoping for the best, I remember a 0-0 against Arsenal maybe in McCarthy days when we did exactly that! You wont see that from these players of RLB!

I've said over and over the established club fans are 100% trying to convince themselves we are one of the relegated teams but we haven't played anyone and now we have beaten a champions league team its we nicked a win after being outplayed and only having two chances! They have had it easy the last 3 seasons as the teams coming up have gone straight down usually with one not even putting up a fight! This year is different with all 3 given it a go but what worse for them is the team that wasn't going to.be anywhere near, was going to go down without a fight maybe even doing worse than Sourhampton is looking more like fighting for European place than survival!

I'm sure if you asked most fans what the goal is they would say 17th and survival anything better is a bonus, we can be a pessimistic bunch after the decades of ****e. Ask KLD, Speakman and RLB and if they tell you the truth and not the media lines of game by game survival etc.. I reckon they want to be top 10 with a chance of pushing into European places!

And while I'm one of the ones that tells myself 17th and survival would be enough in the first season I've seen nothing in any of the matches so far to suggest we will suddenly stop getting points. If anything there is going to be improvement as the lads get more used to each without minutes played, I reckon Saturday had glimpses of understanding due to time on the pitch together.

Its class man!

 

14 for me

 

27 points mate…no probs…HTL!!!!

 

10

 

Its crazy but there isn’t a match there that I now think we have no chance! Yeah realistically Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City are probably going to be losses but only Arsenal have been consistent both Liverpool and City are beatable especially Liverpool at the minute.

Everton, Fulham, Leeds and mags I'd like to think we're seeing as ones to win.

Minimum should be 9-10 but with the way they are playing could be a lot better.

 

I am in general very optimistic and was hopeful of a top ten finish (more heart than head) this was after we signed the first few players of the transfer window.
My brother who is more pessimistic than me stuck a bet on us finishing top 10 at 28/1 and I think at the time was a good value bet. By the end of the transfer window those odds were 20/1.
Now I find myself hoping for more as this team really starts to become what we all hope they can become, and maybe! Just maybe push a little higher than top 10.