The tactics behind Sunderland’s impressive start

If Sunderland beat Everton on Monday they will move from seventh to second in the Premier League – five points behind leaders Arsenal.

With 10 games gone, more attention is paid to the standings and it’s fair to say that at the start of the season few pundits would have had the Black Cats hovering around the Champions League places.

So, how has the unassuming Regis Le Bris and his overhauled Sunderland side managed to be the surprise package so far this season?

Le Bris’ tactical variety is evident in Sunderland’s out of possession play this season. Although they have been difficult to break down defensively, this hasn’t only been by defending deep.

Sunderland tend to begin aggressively. Le Bris instructs his players to press high, often in a man-to-man fashion and Sunderland’s ability to execute this has been impressive.

Newly promoted teams are reluctant to defend in this way because getting it wrong leaves your side more exposed, with individuals needing to cover larger distances alone. With the speed of the Premier League, Sunderland’s decision to adopt this approach following promotion is brave but has paid off for them.

In their 2-1 win at Chelsea on 25 October, their man-to-man high press forced their hosts back. The press often aimed to force Chelsea towards their left given they lacked a left footer in central defence. This reduced the success of the Blues’ build-up play from the back.

This pressure is occasionally bypassed. When Sunderland are pushed deeper, they then take a mostly zonal approach to defending, commonly blocking space in a 4-4-2 shape. Against Chelsea and later on against Manchester United, they blocked space using a back five, reinforcing their ability to adapt.

Their deeper defensive shape is incredibly strong too and being able to have the same 11 players do both approaches in the same game to a high level poses lots of problems for opponents.

In their deeper defensive shape, Le Bris’ men aren’t solely zonal defenders and do apply pressure to individual opponents near them, reducing the time they have on the ball.

In possession, Le Bris mostly opts for a positional style of play, meaning he wants his team to occupy certain zones on the pitch. Different players can rotate to occupy these spaces but generally the same spaces have a player within them.

From the goalkeeper, Sunderland often build-up from the back, using the quality of their defenders and midfielders to help them get up the pitch. They typically do this by spreading their back four wide with the keeper standing between both central defenders before Granit Xhaka and Noah Sadiki dart deep showing for the ball from central midfield positions.

Once Sunderland have established possession, they then look to break teams down. The central midfielders mentioned can drop into the defensive line to get on the ball with more time and space, which is a smart use of their skillset.

With more time on the ball, Xhaka is able to dictate play from deep, often playing inch-perfect switches of play to the wingers, getting them in one-on-one situations.

It is worth mentioning centre-back Omar Alderete, who played for Getafe last season. During that campaign he was the most ‘incisive’ passer when compared with all central defenders with more than 15 games played. He ranked first for the percentage of recoveries he turned into progressive passes.

In the final third, most of their play is centred around getting into good crossing positions in the wide areas. The full-backs are vital to this either through overlapping the winger, putting in crosses themselves, or underlapping and acting as support for the winger.

Xhaka again smartly moves towards the flank with both the full-back and winger and is usually positioned well to cross it in first-time following a lay-off.

These triangles ensure Sunderland have a dangerous threat out wide and rotations between these players make their threat less predictable.

From winning positions, we know that Sunderland press less and block space deeper. When this happens they look to play long. They’re able to sit in the defensive shape for large parts of games because they have individuals who are able to carry the ball up the pitch, relieving pressure on the defence. They can also progress the ball through long passing up to the strikers.

For the sake of this article, out of possession and in possession phases of play are separate sections but Le Bris’ has said he wants to “link the phases” of his system – having his players see the system as a whole rather than individual parts.

When Sunderland have the ball, they are conscious of how they will defend and have players behind the ball ready to cover if they are to lose the ball. When they play direct, the team looks to move up together reducing spaces between defence, midfield and attack, again to ensure they are better prepared defensively.

What is clear in this analysis is that Sunderland are both balanced and well-drilled. They have solutions to numerous problems and move between these set-ups fairly seamlessly, whether that be defending with a back four or five, whether that means pressing high or defending deep, and whether that means playing slowly and with possession or attacking directly.