Sunderland are set to make their trip to the Britannia stadium on Saturday still sitting bottom of the Premier league table and still in search for their first league win of the season.
A couple of months have passed since the start of the season and manager David Moyes is still trying to find the missing pieces to the jigsaw. The end goal is to obviously implement a system suited to the players that ended last season under big Sam and the new arrivals that the former Everton manager has brought in. Conversely it has been very clear that both the players and managers are struggling with the summers transitions. In fairness, injuries have set the team back, a lot.
Therefore, we look to a new way that could suit the fit senior players Sunderland do have at their means.
Mark Hughes’s Stoke city also remain in the bottom three with the black cats but will have restored a bit of confidence with a valuable point at Old Trafford in their last fixture. Their main threats, as shown against Manchester United, are Wilfred Bony, Marko Arnautovic, and Xherdan Shaqiri. The attacking threesome can spark life into just about any game, therefore Sunderland will need to have an experienced and fast back line.
Sunderland however will have put some smiles back on some disappointed supporters faces with Patrick Van Aanholts strike earning a hard fought point against West Brom. One key factor highlighted from the performance was the tactical changes Moyes made for the final 15 minutes which completely changed the face of the game. The contribution that the 26-year-old provided playing in a more advanced role on the left hand side of midfield was given the thumbs by many pundits after final whistle, as it proved to be the decided tactic that allowed Sunderland to rescue a point at home.
Leading to the 82nd minute goal were a hoard of cutting edge through ball passes to the attackers in order to create space and pace, that opened up a concise back line of West Brom.
With striker Victor Anichebe set to return from injury and Duncan Watmore netting for England under 21’s during the week, Sunderland fans could see a 3-5-2 formation involving two wing backs including Van Aanholt and two up front be the answer.
The last time the lads used this system was on our decent run in the month of November last season which included wins over Crystal Palace and Stoke City.
The key difference this season around will be the unavailability of the pace Yedlin gave Sunderland in that position. Catching teams on the break was the Americans biggest strength something that Javier Manquillo, who would most likely be playing on the opposite side to Van Aanholt, must adapt to very quickly with most of the pace in the side coming on the left.
In terms of the back three, Belgian Jason Deneyar is unavailable, picking up a knock on international duty this week. It looks like Papy Djilobodji could return to the starting line up to join Lamine Kone and John O’shea or even Paddy Mcnair which would sort out frail back line.
On a brighter note the three central midfielders may see the return of Lee Cattermole who missed the visit of West Brom through injury. His central defence midfield work would likely see Didier N’Dong and Whabi Khazri providing the service to the strikers. One of which have been Jermain Defoe, who is just two goals away from leveling Les Ferdinands Premier League record.
However, the lads must get back to winning ways again if they are going to avoid another relegation battle and the 2-5-3 formation could provide it.
