STEPHANE Sessegnon hopes Sunderland can find the right combination in attack after being re-classified as a striker. Sessegnon was earmarked as a wideman or attacking midfielder when he arrived at the Stadium of Light in a £6million move from Paris St Germain in January. But it wasnât until Sunderlandâs injury crisis forced Steve Bruce to deploy Sessegnon in a more central forward role, that the Benin international came to life. Bruce has publicly confirmed that he now sees Sessegnon as one of his four strikers alongside Asamoah Gyan and summer signings Connor Wickham and Ji Dong-won. Sessegnon is sure to start as a support striker in Saturdayâs opener against Liverpool, with Gyan expected to line up alongside him, providing the Ghanaian comes through tonightâs international friendly with Nigeria, at Watford, unscathed. But after the summer arrivals of 6ft-plus duo Wickham and Ji, Bruce also has the option of handing a more physical centre-forward the task of leading the line. Sessegnon told the Echo: âI enjoy playing more as a striker, even at the end of the season when I had to play up front by myself. âIt was a relief for me to start scoring goals and playing well after we were losing games when I first arrived. But Iâm quite happy whatever position the manager wants to put me in. Iâm happy to do that. âItâs good that weâve brought one or two physical players in now like Connor and Ji, who are a bit bigger because a lot of our game is based on crosses.â Sessegnonâs return of three goals from the last five games helped Sunderland scrape into the Premier Leagueâs top 10 on the final day of last season. The 27-year-old believes the Black Cats can improve on that 10th placed finish this time around, although he admits Sunderland face a testing start to the campaign with an opening day trip to Anfield followed by the Wear-Tyne derby. Sessegnon added: âHopefully we can improve on last season. Thatâs what we want to do, to keep improving. If we can improve on last yearâs final position then that would be great. âObviously the further weâre up the league, the better. Itâs a difficult start but youâve got to play these teams at some point during the season. âWeâve just got to perform in the way we can and hopefully pick up some points. âItâs an exciting start to the season with the game against Newcastle as well. The intensity of that game is exceptional and letâs hope we can get a positive result from the first couple of games to launch our season Will he still be pushed out to the l/w sometimes in order to bring on Wickham or Ji?
Sessegnon is the difference between Sunderland being a bottom half team and a top half team in my opinion. Shame we couldnt have found another Sess this transfer window. Only thing with moving him into a more central role is that it makes our midfield slow as hell and I really worry about its lack of pace for next season.
I think i actually love Sess. For out & out talent and natural ability, only SKP is within 100 miles of him in my lifetime.
Thing is though, NQ and SB more or less said last January when judas left that they were going to keep the money till the summer and get a PROPER PROVEN QUALITY replacement. Now all of a sudden Bruce says most teams now play with one up front and someone in the "hole" ie Sess. When Gyan (who's hardly prolific anyway) goes to the Africa nations thing in january we cant be relying on Sess up front by himself as he is basically to small for that role imo so we need Whickam or ji dong won to hopefully step up to the plate in his absence...basically I reckon we still desperately need a PROVEN striker on board..imo....
I think they are maybe hoping Conner, Ji or both have found their feet by ACN, but it's a hell of a punt if that's the case.
Only if they get enough game-time..... Its catch 22, he wants to play Sess up with Gyan, but unless these lads get the chance to play often, the ACN will be upon us, and one of two novice strikers expected to take Gyans place. Its a tricky one this.
Well if "we" can see this 6 months or so in advance then you would hope Bruce has a plan! Bellamy really would be ideal like as we could use him on the left and when needed he would be the PROVEN striker that could be relied on....
Dr Beak - according to Mrs Sess he (and she) has a soft spot for you too - time for us all to get ready for the wedding!
Gyans raving about him...... Could very well be our main man this season. Stephane Sessegnon is showing he can lead Sunderland to success this season, according to Black Cats' striker Asamoah Gyan. Benin international Sessegnon has been outstanding in Sunderland's pre-season friendly programme, and Gyan has been hugely impressed. "Stephane is the man of the moment, he's doing everything right," Gyan told BBC Newcastle. "If he continues into the season he'll be one of the best players around." Talking as Steve Bruce and his squad completed their preparations for this weekend's opening Premier League fixture against Liverpool at Anfield, Gyan said Sessegnon's form was one of the reasons Sunderland were quietly confident before the trip to Merseyside. "Every time [Sessegnon] has the ball he takes out two or three players, and it really helps the team," said the Ghana international. "Liverpool have had a difficult pre-season, they've conceded 15 goals in three games or something, so they'll be even more determined to prove a point, but we know what we're capable of."
