Talking Tactics: What did Régis Le Bris get right as Sunderland swatted Norwich aside?

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Sunderland came from behind for the fourth consecutive time to collect all three points against the Canaries. How did Le Bris alter his side to secure the win?

The game in summary

Sunderland came from behind for the fourth game in a row against Norwich City to complete a 2-1 comeback and secure ten points from twelve during the December period.

It was the Wearsiders' final home fixture of 2024, and we retained our unbeaten home record during the 2024/2025 campaign so far.

After a rather cagey first half, how did Le Bris' men dig deep and take home yet another three-point haul heading into the Christmas period?

Sunderland lineup

Following a historic comeback on the Welsh coast a week earlier, Le Bris made one change from his previous starting eleven, as Trai Hume dropped to the bench in place of Luke O'Nien after suffering from the same illness his teammate had the week before.

Other than that, Sunderland remained unchanged with Eliezer Mayenda retaining his place out wide and the midfield trio of Chris Rigg, Jobe and Dan Neil remaining, with all three having contributed to the comeback in Wales.

Sunderland's usual 4-3-3 formation was deployed in order to match up with the visitors' shape.

However, after the comments made by Johannes Hoff Thorup prior to the game, Sunderland were expecting a lot more of the ball and therefore both Dennis Cirkin and O'Nien were deployed in the opposition's half for much of the game as Norwich surrendered the ball to limit Sunderland's ability to attack in transition.

Norwich City lineup

Johannes Hoff Thorup made two changes following the Canaries' 2-1 loss to Burnley, with Jack Stacey and Onel Hernandez coming back into the team.

Shaping up in a flat 4-3-3 similar to Sunderland, Thorup likes his sides to attack in transition and rely on short and sharp passing exchanges to spring against the opposition and free up the individual quality of star man Borja Sainz.

Keeping tabs on Régis Le Bris' 'transition specialists'

They are the best transition team in the league.

For us, it's about balance, not being tempted to go into certain areas where there is a big risk.

Thorup had described Sunderland as the best 'transition team' in the league, a tactic which Norwich themselves have adopted this season. Thorup set his side up in a low block, with Sainz sitting on the last man to both nullify Sunderland's ability to attack in transition but also set Norwich up to do exactly that as the away side.

Going into the game, Norwich sat rock bottom of the league table for 'off-ball pressures' per ninety minutes.

This passive approach to defending in a low block highlights the reliance on transition moves to create 'chaos' and unpredictability in attacking moves, opening up the individual brilliance rather than attacking patterns of consistency, which is similar to how Tony Mowbray coached Sunderland.

Despite controlling the tempo in the opening exchanges, it was Norwich who had the best early opportunities and by sitting deep and waiting for a loose Sunderland pass, they were able to string several passes first-time passes in quick succession to exploit our naturally high defensive line early on.

Following a reactionary save from Anthony Patterson, the resulting Norwich corner was played short and within the melee, a loose ball was pounced on by Emiliano Marcondes and Sunderland found themselves 0-1 down for the fourth time in as many matches.

The game develops into the 'dark arts derby'

In a fixture known for being contested for the illustrious 'Friendship Trophy', this game started as anything but.

Two players renowned for their wind ups on the pitch went head to head, as the Championship's top scorer in Borja Sainz faced off against our very own Luke O'Nien, which resulted in a rather feisty clash.

In what was clearly also a tactical selection by Le Bris, the early exchanges saw O'Nien standing several yards off Sainz in an attempt not to be drawn in to the silky winger's antics as he looked to use his pace and finesse to jink around the Sunderland defenders on the break.

However, after a flurry of threatening breakaways early on, this was quickly abandoned.

As Sainz got more involved in the game, his antics ramped up and saw warnings given to both Patrick Roberts and O'Nien before the latter found himself losing patience and following some showboating, the Sunderland man threw him to the ground and took the yellow card for his troubles.

A case study in Championship wing play

I've written many a piece in recent times on the emergence and continued strength of inverted wingers in the modern game.

At the beginning of the 2010's, Bayern Munich's 'Robbery' duo (Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery) wreaked havoc in European competitions. This was followed by France's heroics and Liverpool's devastating hitmen during Jurgen Klopp's reign at Anfield.

With the patterns of play, it's easy to see why teams live and die on the hill of utilising inverted wingers to create more unique passing and shooting angles, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Le Bris opt to switch his wingers during this game, with Roberts switching to the left and Mayenda the right.

Despite the latter being left-footed, he was given clear instruction to attack on the outside following the switch and both managed to create several opportunities whilst inverted- notably Mayenda, who managed to get the left side of the defence booked and even an assist for his troubles.

Both wingers completed a total of 9/18 dribbles and Sunderland's best spells came through the work of both wingers, as the second goal also came through a set piece won by the Spanish youngster.

The Eliezer Mayenda conundrum

Sunderland currently find themselves without their top two left-sided wingers, and therefore Mayenda has become the square peg in a round hole out wide.

Whilst the striker isn't a natural dribbler, he's been given the responsibility of playing out wide and therefore his one-touch runs around defenders seem to be his weapon of choice when attacking opposing teams.

Although it may not look pretty and can often lead to some rather unorthodox one-versus-one situations out wide, it does create an air of chaos and unpredictability.

Whilst utilising his pace and power can sometimes result in what feels like Sunday League decision-making, it does draw the attention of multiple players and often leads to fouls and moments of excitement.

It's clear that Mayenda doesn't look as comfortable dribbling the ball with close control in the way Roberts, Romaine Mundle or Tommy Watson do, and it's no slight on him as his main attributes come as a central striker.

However, he seems to blow hot or cold out wide and it's something he'll need to refine with game time as despite not looking pretty, the message I received from a friend up in the away end read 'I really liked that No.12 out wide for you today. He was a handful and caused us loads of issues.'

Mayenda won't dance past players in the way that we've come to expect from our wingers in recent times, but he's certainly trying his best to help the side during this injury crisis and we can only continue to support him as he develops further in his impromptu posting on the flank.

Jobe plays a key role once again

After cementing himself even more deeply further in the affections of Mackems following his comments about the club last week, Jobe continues to amaze, with two match-winning goals in a week and another complete performance to match.

If fans want an image to sum up Jobe's performances in red and white, just take his sequence in the first half that saw him chase down Sainz to make spectacular tackle inside his own box, only to get back up and find himself leading the counter attack twenty five yards from the Norwich goal all in one go.

With each game, it's a pleasure to watch this young man develop into an adult and his progression can be seen week by week.

Winning 7/10 ground duels, completing six recoveries with 100% successful dribbles all whilst holding an 88% passing accuracy is sublime without even considering his winning goal.

Does Jobe sometimes overplay and find himself in trouble? Yes, but what he also does is transition the ball effortlessly from defence to attack and often it's just his presence in the middle of the park that calms the players around him.

The Lads get back on track

After a tricky recent spell, Sunderland still find themselves creating chances regularly and track well with an open play xG of 1.5 per game, which shows we've come through our earlier spell and look to be back at our best.

With games against Blackburn Rovers, Stoke City Sheffield United on the horizon, we'll look to push on and cement ourselves in the automatic promotion breakaway group that's forming, capping off a fantastic start to the campaign as we hit the halfway mark of the 2024/2025 season.