Talking Points: Premier League Paradise on Wearside

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Sunderland romped to a 3-0 victory over West Ham United at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, managing to win in August in the Premier League for the first time since 29 August 2010, when a Darren Bent penalty downed Manchester City.

That Manchester City was a very different beast to the one we know today, and the same is applicable to Sunderland — a renewed, reinvigorated football club, city and populace.

While every player on the pitch deserved the plaudits, the midfield trio of Noah Sadiki, Habib Diarra and Granit Xhaka were outstanding both in and out of possession, covering 7.2, 6.6 and 7.1 miles of ground in their respective ninety minutes. They were aggressive in all aspects and consistently stopped James Ward-Prowse and Lucas Paquetá being able to find Jarrod Bowen, the away side’s greatest threat and talent.

It was a slightly inauspicious start as Bowen skipped past Xhaka, advanced into the box and managed to get a shot on goal that was well saved by Robin Roefs. However, this was probably the only time that I can count him or Paquetá making a difference in the game, with our trio dictating the entirety of the second half.

Diarra and Sadiki are ultimate athletes who harried and harassed the opposition all game, completing a combined eleven interceptions, recoveries and ground duels.

It was a big decision to relegate Enzo Le Fée to the bench. He’s undoubtedly the most creative player we have to who could line up either side of Xhaka, but it was vindicated as Régis Le Bris obviously wanted to take advantage of the away side’s lack of presence, pace and physicality in midfield.

Simon Adingra and Chemsdine Talbi were constant menaces; tireless workers out wide and both constantly kept gesturing to fans. Not everything came off, but both picked up assists and proved why they’re the current first choice wingers. Technically, and somewhat annoyingly, Adingra may lose his assist as it deflected off the back of Jean-Clair Todibo.

Once again, we were pragmatic — akin to last season.

We happily just sat and let West Ham pass it around their own half, constantly shifting play from right to left to try and probe through our lines, but they only did it twice in the entire game. This pragmatism, solidity and willingness to adapt to opponents is what sets us apart from prior promoted teams who’ve just gone back down again.

Daniel John Ballard. Big Dan Ballard. Big man head ball…whatever you know him as, was a colossus once again. The rest of the defence too were all excellent, but Ballard has become a real leader in the defensive unit. He scored, cleared a shot off the line, and completed the following defensive numbers:

His last four games since the playoff semi-finals have been just imperious and he proved he’s more than ready to step up to lead our defensive rearguard in the Premier League.

Perhaps the most satisfying part of the win is that despite eight new signings making a debut and all impressing - all three goals were scored by our three championship graduates that played at Wembley, and Ballard’s bullet header from Simon Adingra’s cross after some tidy work from Reinildo was particularly cathartic.

In that moment, you could feel eight years of despair, desperation and despondancy being replaced by hope. In this sundered land, we’ve once again return to the promised land.

This was all immediately apparent as soon as I got into the town at 10:00am. The streets were awash with red and white, all with beaming smiles on their faces. The anticipation was so palpable you could bottle it up and taste it — or perhaps that was just the breakfast Guinness(eses).

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