George messages fellow Sunderland A.F.C supporter Theo from his holiday in Egypt following a Sunderland 3-1 away win against Blackburn Rovers. Game time: 30-Dec-2026
George: Gutted I couldn’t make the match today! Another solid win then? Message back when you’re on the coach.
Theo: Yeah mate! Lads smashed it. Mubama was everywhere. 3-1 wins in all last 4 away games!
George: Haha ah yeah! Eagles all about consistency hey.
Theo: Can’t believe how much he’s turned things around. Was giving it some at the end of the match today. Howay the lads!!!
George: Ah mate bet it was buzzing! Bit colder than it is here in Egypt I bet 😉
Theo: You can keep your pyramids mate when we’re playing like this lol
Football Manager Focus
Twelve matches into Eagles tenure at Sunderland A.F.C and the club is screaming of positive change and improvement. Nine wins and only a single defeat in what has been a remarkable turn around has seen us rise up the league from 20th place to 4th and seven points off 2nd spot. With Patrick Eagles adopting his familiar brand of football in an organised 4-4-2 formation, feelings of despair have quickly turned to optimism with the Stadium of Light faithful daring to look forward to a sustained push for automatic promotion back to the Premier League.
Training focus
One of the first things set up from the start was to assign every first team player an additional training focus of ‘Endurance’. This addresses two of the attributes set up in our club DNA. These are Work Rate and stamina. We are currently below the league average for Work Rate so a focus on this will help improve things and better equip our players for a tactic high in tempo and intensity that we will be looking to set up in order to meet the club culture required of us.
Tactics: Back to basics
In our first two games in charge, a 1-1 draw away to Bolton and a 3-4 loss away to Fulham, it was instantly apparent that we had an extremely soft core. The holes in the sinking ship were in major need of repair. We returned to a tried and tested system used at Notts County that helped establish a side that was hard to beat. An adaptable 4-4-2 with the wingers playing narrow and cutting in to produce an attacking overload of 4, with space out wide for the full backs to overlap when the situation presents itself. This time round though we start with two central midfielders as opposed to defensive midfielders. This will help support a high pressing system where the midfielders and forwards are closer together to press as one unit and limit the space for the opposition to play out of it.
We have a good selection of technically strong wingers who are all capable of playing either side and most of them possessing the ‘cuts inside from wing’ traits. This perfectly supports the style of play we are looking for here. Our weakest spot is probably in central midfield where we lack a robust enforcer.
Club culture: Play high-tempo pressing football
To achieve the high tempo pressing style that is strongly desired by the club board and supporters we will adopt the following;
- Counter-Press: In this shape we will have six players working together to try to win the ball back when lost, with both strikers and supporting midfield four all pressing together.
- Counter: When we win the ball back, seven players will be involved in trying to immediately attack and take advantage of the opposition who will be potentially out of position.
- Distribute quickly: We want our keeper to move the ball out quickly to help sustain a high tempo game.
- Tempo: We will adopt a higher tempo to move the ball quickly and try to unsettle the opposition and in turn make it harder for them to press us.
- Run at defence: We are top for average dribbling and technique attributes in the Championship throughout our squad and encouraging our team to run at the opposition defence more often than not will maximise this to full effect while working as another tool to sustain a high tempo approach play.
- Pass into space: We want to increase the number of progressive passes being made in the final third to keep the opposition on their toes and constantly look for space and opportunities to create chances.
- Be more Disciplined: This is about doing all of the above together as a team with teamwork being at the core fibers of a Patrick Eagles team.
- Focus Play Through The Middle: This is to produce the central overloads with our narrow shape and wingers cutting inside and attacking through the middle.
- High Press: With two strikers we want to press high up the pitch and not allow the opposition to dictate the game in their defensive third. Often possession can be dominated through the back line but our central strikers can press the centre backs to disrupt this. We have very commanding centre backs who excel in the air so we are happy to force the opposition to go long.
- Higher defensive line: This will be adapted for each team as we assess the pace and ability of their forwards but a higher line is preferable to squeeze the space that we allow them to play in, supporting our pressing system.
- Trigger Press Much More Often: Here we are getting our stamp in early. We don’t have a plethora of players with the physical attributes to sustain a constant press for 90 minutes but we want to establish that style of play. We can of course scale this back in matches where we achieve a solid lead to help preserve some energy.
- Prevent Short GK Distribution: While this could be unticked if we want to set pressing traps, on the whole we just don’t want to give the opposition the chance to build any momentum of play from the back.
Squad highlights
Valued at 55m and strong with both feet, we have a bit of a gem in Anthony Patterson as our number one sweeper goalkeeper. With Daniel Ballard playing as our Central Defender Stopper, with spoonful’s of aggression and bravery, we have the foundation of a long term defensively solid back bone right there. Both want to leave the club. Can we convince them to stay if we can achieve promotion?
Both Dan Neil and Frenchman Pierre Ekwah possess quality playmaking attributes as our central midfield duo but lack the aggressiveness and physicality to fully support our pressing system. We want our central midfielders to stay centrally and act as cover and support for the wingers attacking into the space in front of them. Ekwah’s trait of ‘Get forward whenever possible’ does not work well with what we want here. Both these players want out and we may look to move at least one of them on should a sufficient offer come in.
Jack Clarke possesses the pace, technicality and dribbling ability to be a tremendous success for us attacking from left wing and with the ideal ‘Cut inside from left wing’ trait he has very quickly established himself as a key threat with 4 goals to his name so far. On the opposite wing we are asking Chris Rigg to adapt to a brand new position and play as a wide playmaker. At 19 years of age and a product of the Sunderland’s Academy of Light, Rigg looks a fantastic prospect for us. A player who likes to attack through the centre and dictate tempo, he could develop into our main man to unlock the opposition defence and he is a strong enough fit already with the team DNA. With a complete wing back behind him we are looking to build a partnership down the right hand side with a more creative dynamic.
On loan from Manchester United we have Santiago Lopez who is a superb rotational option with a similar skill set to Jack Clarke and comfortable playing on either wing. Up front Divin Mubama, on loan from West Ham, plays an essential high intensity role in the system as our tireless pressing forward on support. With excellent physical fitness we will look to him to play most matches and provide a reliable cog in both hassling defenders and linking play between our attacking wingers and the other striker. Playing next to Mubama as a poacher is Ernest Muci. With high technical flair he is a strong allrounder. He might not be relied upon to press with the rest of the team consistently but has the ability to be our leading goal scorer and excel in the ‘Langstaff’ position we had great success with at Notts County. He has scored 12 in 13 starts for us and we’ll be looking for more.
Ones to watch
1: Jair. Brazilian Physical Centre-back, 21 years old. 6’6″ Height with remarkable jumping reach, Jair is a very promising defender who has the potential to be a consistent threat from set-pieces.
2: Johan Caicedo. Columbian Defensive Midfielder, 22 years old. 6’5″ and another player with incredible jumping reach. An eye for a goal from distance with the physicality to cover a lot of ground. Doubling up with Jair on attacking set-pieces could be one hell of a weapon.
3: Abdoullah Ba. Mauritanian Technical Midfielder, 23 years old. Another player who likes to attack through the middle and cut in form both wings, Ba is an incredibly versatile player with a lot of promise but at 23 there may not be much more progressive development.
4: Noel Lopez. Spanish Technical Striker, 23 years old. Of the four, Lopez is certainly the closest to pushing for a regular starting spot in the team. He is showing very encouraging development, will work hard for the team and can be an effective striker in many different ways with good agility, aggression and possessing a good eye for passing and shooting. Will be seriously pushing Muci for starting in the poacher role but can cover Mubama too.
Into the new year with renewed vitality
We march into 2027 with a lot of optimism and positive momentum. The clouds have dissipated at the stadium of light as we charge for a top two spot in the Championship and look to secure a return to the Premier League. This will be a challenging transfer window and Eagles will be wanting to retain a core set of players that are helping to turn things around and who could be part of a longer term success. He’ll be dizzy with a 54 million pounds transfer budget and may look to strengthen in one or two positions while keeping an wedge by for a new season. . . wherever that may be!