THE AWAY APPROACH

It was another point gained on the road for the Black Cats on Sunday, with Brian Brobbey’s fantastic finish meaning we have now not lost in five games. However, with four of those being draws does something need to be tweaked ahead of another trip to the capital on Wednesday against Brentford?

Regis Le Bris’ side have become a team that sides don’t look forward to playing, especially at the Stadium of Light. It is already well publicised that we are unbeaten at home, with all four defeats coming on the road this season. At home, a mix of our physical approach and the intimidating atmosphere the SoL can produce has made even Manchester City come and look out of sorts. However, on the road things are slightly different. We tend to set up with the intent of not losing which obviously as a newly promoted side is to be expected. At times though it can feel like maybe we are being overly cautious and maybe not backing our own ability.

A lot of fans spoke of the approach on Sunday, sitting back against a Tottenham side who have been awful at home all season and have a manager in Thomas Frank under a bit of pressure currently. Ultimately, I do think Le Bris has his hands tied at the minute. With four games in the first ten days of January whilst missing so many players due to AFCON, you do run the risk of running an already thread bare squad into the ground.

We saw with Brobbey’s goal the genuine quality we are capable of producing going forward and I think it’s almost a “why aren’t we seeing this more often” type moment for sections of the fanbase. I do think some fans are getting a bit ahead of themselves as well at the moment. It is clear that we are just as good as a lot of teams in this league and with some of the expected European contenders having poor seasons, I feel maybe people are getting hopes up of potentially sneaking into one of those places, therefore making good results like Sunday, seem like a missed opportunity. The league table does not lie, we are not far off those places and it would be an absolute dream to see the Mackems in Europe.

I feel the parallels this season has to the 2022/23 season is uncanny. Newly promoted side with very little expectations, recruiting well and punching above there weight to the point that maybe as the season progressed, expectations changed.

I do though think we need to stay grounded and patience is definitely required as once the 40 points mark is reached, the AFCON players and January recruits arrive, we may see more positive approaches away from home and hopefully more goals. There is no doubt we need to be scoring more, with just 21 this season, one more than Burnley who now look almost destined for the drop. It seems this is something that will be addressed during the transfer window though and with Brobbey netting against Spurs, you hope this could see him kick on and potentially go on a run.

To sum up, although I do kind of agree I would like us to set up a bit more positively on the road, I do think context is required at the moment, as if Le Bris had us playing aggressive all out attack followed by two games the following week, the fatigue would almost certainly be felt in the results and performances at Brentford and Everton, especially after the absolute war that was the Man City game.

As a wise man once said, let’s get carried away, but at the same time lets still be a bit realistic, we are doing superb and it is for the first time in my lifetime, genuinely a joy to watch Sunderland in the Premier League.