AUGSBURG REVIEW

Sunderland won away in Bavaria against Bundesliga Augsburg by a goal to nil. Habib Diarra scored the winner and, generally, it was a brighter performance than what we’ve seen in the last few friendlies.

Following a defeat to Real Betis at the Stadium of Light a week ago, the squad was split into two for two different fixtures and the stronger team travelled to Germany to face Augsburg.

This is how we lined up:

Roefs, Hume, Ballard, Seelt, Reinildo, Diarra, Xhaka, Sadiki, Talbi, Mayenda, Adingra

The only goal of the game came within the first 15 minutes. Adingra laid it off to Diarra, who was waiting outside of the box, and he fired wonderfully into the bottom right corner. That certainly wasn’t the only event of the first half an hour though as there were two penalty misses, one for each team. We missed the first one, Reinildo had done well to win it after charging into the area and being felled. Unfortunately Mayenda sent it into the stratosphere, penalties remain an area that needs improvement for the whole team clearly. Augsburg missed the next one, in person the decision to award it looked dubious. Unlike our spot kick, this one was at least on target but Roefs did really well to save to his left hand side.

There were other chances during the opening 45, including a couple that we should have done better with I feel. One of these was from Mayenda when the shot was just too weak and another was flashed across the box by the goal scorer but no one was able to convert, perhaps he could have taken it on himself.

I was really impressed with Robin Roefs and particularly his command of the box, he was collecting crosses that would have likely resulted in danger last term and he never hesitated to come out for anything. Adingra looked bright and contributed with an assist, Reinildo was far more prominent with him playing in his more natural position of left back too. Seelt deserved to get an assist, he put in a couple of nice curled passes on the left hand side. Hume made his side of the pitch his own and denied most of the attempts of their winger to cause bother. Overall, we were the stronger team and should have been leading by more than the one goal.

In the second half, it got off to a brisk start. Roefs was called into action three times and saved well three times within the first nine minutes. Adingra also had a shot blocked not long after the restart. Talbi had two good chances throughout the half, he was played in by Mayenda for the first of these but had the shot saved. In the closing minutes he had the opportunity to take it round the goalkeeper, who came rushing out of his box, but he didn’t move quick enough and the ‘keeper cleared. One of the main talking points of the second half will be Granit Xhaka’s free kick, even though it didn’t go in. Mayenda won it on the edge of the box and the Switzerland international fired towards the opposite corner of the net, unfortunately it bounced off the woodwork, a few inches to the right or lower and it would have been 2-0. Tutierov, who had replaced Sadiki less than five minutes prior, did well to set up a chance for Mayenda but the Spanish striker couldn’t score. The young Ukrainian should have taken it on himself to wrap the game up with only a few minutes left. There was a massive scare at one point, Xhaka sent a heavy back pass towards Roefs and it very nearly went in but the Dutch goalie stopped it.

For all the criticisms likely to be levied towards Mayenda for failing to find the target again, I thought his build up play was excellent and he held up the ball really well. Xhaka was excellent in midfield and always seemed to have a yard of extra space compared to everyone else at all times and he helped out in both boxes. Sadiki looked good, I am concerned about the fact he went off with a knock again. I’m pretty sure it’ll just be a precaution though, like against Hearts. Diarra fared well again, he’s sure to start against West Ham and Adingra had the better first half whilst Talbi was the more notable of the two in the second. He was always in a position to cause their defence some concern.

In conclusion, a better team runout than last week (we actually put the ball in the back of the net). Individually it was better from most as well, Mayenda was more feisty, Talbi and Adingra have plenty of positives to take from the game and Roefs actually had the chance to show off his shop stopping abilities. One more pre-season game to go, hopefully some of the second choices can give the manager something to think about. At the time of writing, it looks like we are bringing in another left back (good for depth) and a centre back. We’ve been chasing the latter for a while, we do definitely need one too.