DEFENDING THE ATTACKERS

After a relatively comfortable performance, if not maybe lacking the cushion some maybe expected after the team was announced, Sunderland are into the hat for the fifth round of the FA Cup. A talking point from yesterday’s fourth round triumph was the performances of both Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda, the former in particularly.

Last season both were a pivotal part of promotion, contributing to a combined total of 20 goals across the league as well as three more in the play-offs. This season though they have only managed a combined five, four of which belong to Isidor. Mayenda hasn’t scored since the opening day against West Ham, with Wilson’s last goal coming in October. Yesterday brought a lot of criticism on the pair, with Isidor especially receiving criticism with some mentioning his attitude as well as him not being good enough to play at this level. Mayenda also had a few complaints for not doing a lot after coming on yesterday, despite almost scoring moments after entering the pitch.

I personally disagree on the points about ability and feel it is more a case of the player not fitting the system. Last year both Isidor and Mayenda looked at their best when played in behind, with Isidor especially very good at making runs, our issue being we are not attempting those balls as much this campaign. I still believe we have a bit of an issue creativity-wise but with Jocelin Ta Bi impressing off the bench at Oxford and Nilson Angulo looking tidy against Liverpool, you would hope we see that improve.

At the Kassam yesterday I thought Romaine Mundle looked really sharp, cutting inside and causing the full back all sorts of bother. His end product was a bit iffy which can probably be put down to lacking sharpness. Talbi on the other side was very quiet and it’s pretty evident at this stage that he is much better suited to the left. My issue overall was that there was a distinct lack of service for the strikers. Not a lot of good balls into the box, not a lot of balls played in behind or to feet, it was just wingers cutting inside.

In the Premier League, it seems that the striker in our team is not really about scoring loads of goals anymore. Brian Brobbey is having a great season but the main quality as to why he has become our first choice up top is his hold-up play, strength and ability to link play up deeper on the pitch. I have noticed that our striker probably gets more of the ball on the half way line than around the box. With Brobbey this is fine as he is perfect for this style, Isidor and Mayenda though are quite simply not that type of player.

Isidor especially looks shot to bits, you can see he is getting frustrated at the lack of goals and you would imagine as well the lack of chances created for him. Since arriving it has been very clear that he is a confidence player, going on runs of scoring and also runs of not scoring. He started the season brilliantly, we were creating chances for him, and you could see certain aspects of his game improving. Then Brobbey arrived and ultimately made the shirt his own.

Mayenda is of course younger and can be utilised across the front three, with him playing a lot more out wide in recent times. He again does not seem to suit the type of striker Le Bris wants to play with.

I personally believe it’s almost a thankless task playing up top for us. You likely aren’t going to be given many (if any) chances in a game, but you will be expected to do a lot of the dirty work with long balls from centre backs and battling off defenders to hold the ball up to play out to wingers.

My overall point is that for a team that almost set up for our wingers to be a key outlet for creativity, I feel we are being far too harsh on two players being asked to do a job they maybe are not the fit for. Brobbey has done brilliant and if we are going to continue to play the way we are, the summer is going to need us to bring in another couple of strikers in the mould of the dutchman. I may be slightly biased in the fact I am a big fan of both Isidor and Mayenda, I just feel the physical battle style approach we expect our striker to do simply does not suit them, and that is not their fault necessarily. It would be interesting to see us experiment with two up front, with one of these two playing off Brobbey, but it seems unlikely under RLB.

What I especially do not like is questioning attitude from them. Isidor has been posting on his Instagram stories clips of him putting in extra training and Mayenda has barely kicked a ball this season in comparison to the other two. Both will want to succeed at this level and I feel it’s a case of frustration at things not clicking currently rather than a bad attitude.

Going into Fulham, having lost our last two in the league (albeit against two of the best in the league), everybody will be hoping we can avoid this run being prolonged any longer and a return to winning ways will ease any worries from those looking behind them, with hopefully a more impressive display in the final third from Le Bris’ side. A win is a win and yesterday was great as we take a step closer to a potential trip to Wembley (we can dream), but I think a lot of fans were slightly disappointed that we needed a penalty to score past the side 23rd in the league below us. There were plenty of positives to take though, including another great display from Luke O’Nien in the cup who I think everybody is pleased to see doing well, it is just the final third that seems to be the missing piece to this solid Mackem side.