Talking Tactics: Second Half Spirit Sinks the Swans

Yesterday at 01:00 AM

What did Régis Le Bris do at Swansea to spark his team back into life, masterminding the best comeback we've seen in years from a Sunderland side?

Sunderland travelled down to the Welsh coast in search of a three-point haul having grabbed a last-gasp equaliser against Bristol City during the week, looking to maintain an unbeaten run and end another three-game week as we enter the festive period.

After finding themselves 2-0 down within the opening twenty minutes, the Lads managed to pull off a second half Christmas miracle and secure all three points on the road. How did RLB's half-time return to his high press spur the Lads to a historic comeback on the road?

Sunderland Lineup

With fresh injury concerns following Tommy Watson's six week layoff, Sunderland needed to shuffle the pack once more and therefore we saw two changes from the side that drew midweek with Bristol, one was enforced with Mayenda coming in to replace Watson and the other was rotation with Dennis Cirkin coming back in to replace Aji Alese who's still regaining full match fitness after his lengthy early season injury and Luke O'Nien was only fit enough to make the bench following his illness midweek.

Without a recognised left winger, Sunderland were forced to play Eliezer Mayenda out wide to prevent disruption from the 4-3-3 that has become synonymous with Sunderland's setup over the last 12 months, despite not being a natural wide man, Mayenda was tasked with stretching the play wide and arriving into the box late in the hope of disrupting the Swansea defence.

Elsewhere, Sunderland's midfield trio resumed service as normal after several weeks separated due to suspensions with Neil anchoring his midfield partners, Jobe operating as an out-and-out number eight and Rigg pushing up to support Wilson Isidor as a supporting striker in a 4-4-2 shape out of possession.

Opposition Lineup

Luke Williams opted to make three changes from his side's 2-1 Victory over Plymouth, the defensive line remained unchanged however Franco came in to replace Jay Fulton in the centre of midfield, Sunderland's nemesis of 23/24 Ronald came in out wide and summer signing Vipotnik replaced Bianchini as the starting sole striker for Swansea.

Williams decided to stick with his tried and tested 4-2-3-1, utilising a double pivot in midfield with Liam Cullen acting as the floating number 10 just behind the imposing Slovenian Striker in an attempt to assert his physical presence against the Sunderland back line.

By utilising Cullen as a traditional number 10 he was able to pick up positions on either side of the half space and therefore in the opening exchanges dragged Dan Neil away from his anchoring duties and allowed both Franco and Grimes to slice through any press and slide passes in between the lines leading to several early fouls committed by the Sunderland defence.

Disastrous start

After a flurry of early tackles in midfield, Sunderland found themselves pushing against the tide of the home side and conceded a freekick, set piece defending has been one of Sunderland's relative strengths this season however the second contact caused issues and a mix-up between Ballard and Patterson left Vipotnik unmarked to smash home his fourth goal of the season.

Within only minutes of the kick off Sunderland looked rattled and, in an effort, to rectify their mistakes, midfielders began flying into challenges, further opening up gaps for Swansea's double pivot to slide passes into the final third, Sunderland then had their warning shot as a pass released Cullen only to see his shot tipped past the post by Patterson.

Shortly after Jobe lunged in to win the ball only to overextend and bring down Franco twenty-five yards out and earned a yellow card for his troubles, Cullen then whipped the subsequent free kick into the top corner and within 18 minutes Sunderland found themselves with a mountain to climb and a long afternoon in store.

Turning up the Pressure

During Sunderland's first dozen games of the season, a clear and visible high-press was implemented by RLB every week, with Sunderland rivalling Millwall at the top of the off-ball pressures per 90 table. The subsequent dozen games saw a shift from this system due to a combination of teams gathering intel and internal squad injuries causing Sunderland to regress towards a more conservative number of pressures and a natural increase in overall ball possession numbers as teams realised the best way to stifle Sunderland was to simply force them to have the ball.

Despite this, Swansea controlled the first-half possession statistics and without the natural high-pressure that Sunderland have been known for, consequently meant that Sunderland looked passive and for long spells toothless. Similarly to the way Sunderland were undone by set-pieces, in their only attempt on target of the half they managed to pull one goal back and half the deficit.

As the second half began, a clear message was conveyed from the Sunderland coaching team to push higher and look to bring the game closer to Swansea, our defensive line pushed an additional five yards forward and Vipotnik was hemmed back into his own half for the remainder of his time on the field and Sunderland looked to take control of the game.

Dan Neil's Midfield Dominance

Although Dan Neil has faced a challenging responsibility since taking the captain's armband this season he put on perhaps his best performance in a Sunderland shirt of the 24/25 campaign after a string of steadily improving performances in recent weeks.

His team-leading 6/7 Ground Duels and 2/2 Aerial Duels played a starring role in his ability to break up Swansea counters and keep Sunderland in the ascendency as they pushed for a second-half equaliser. As we know, Neil operates best as an advanced number eight when he has time and space to dictate the tempo of the game and use his eye for a pass to break opposition lines so with Swansea retreating into their shells Neil was given the chance to really shine, even completing 3 of 4 dribbles in the process.

Speaking of successful dribbles, I can't discuss Neil's captaincy performance without mentioning his stunning solo run and goal which started a chaotic two minute spell and saw Sunderland draw level. Neil's ability to drive and shoot is often never seen following his deeper role this season but it's just a reminder he's still got that in his locker.

A 'Promotion' Contending Mentality

After Luke Williams' damning comments post-match comments about his Swansea side not showing the qualities of a promotion contender, the total opposite could be said for Le Bris' men.

Despite running on fumes for large spells of the second half, Rigg's press paired with Jobe's tenacity shone through, with the latter also creating the most chances in the match with three created. By squeezing Swansea back into their own half and advancing our fullbacks high, the second half became a game of attack v defence and there only looked to be one winner following Neil's equalising effort.

The above graphic showcases the second half dominance displayed and although it clearly fatigues the players maintaining this intensity across a full game, in short spells it showcases Sunderland have all the attributes to dominate games when the going gets tough.

Despite the sticky spell Sunderland have suffered in recent weeks, they're still tracking well on the expected points tally board and therefore there's been a slight dip in performances, but it's not caused a huge dent in their promotion hopes.

As I'm sure fans will be aware, tracking at 2.0 points per game normally lands a side in the automatics therefore looking at Sunderland's current haul, we're playing about where we'd expect to be and that provides comfort that even though we've dropped points, we're still maintains performances that haven't actually dropped off a cliff.

All Things Considered

When evaluating this game in a vacuum it's easy to criticise Le Bris and the diversion away from the high press that paid such dividends to Sunderland during the early portion of the season however I do think there's a level of logic to think with here.

Whilst not ideal, it's clear to see when Sunderland decide to flip the switch on their high-pressure model teams still aren't capable of withstanding the pressure. The issue is that with a squad as threadbare as Sunderland's currently is, placing high levels of strain on Sunderland's remaining fit contingent and further risking injuries wouldn't be a wise move and therefore I'm accepting that the high press will return as we enter the final third of the season once again.

With Norwich at home on the horizon and further games against Blackburn and Sheffield Utd pending, Le Bris will be thankful he managed to get through unscathed and with the return of players from injury in the coming weeks, we might once again see the success of the early season come back into the fore.