Sunderland are set to play European football for the first time in over 50 years.
The Black Cats’ FA Cup success in 1972/73 earned them a spot in the Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup for the following campaign. They beat Hungarian side Vasas 3-0 in the first round but gave up a first-leg advantage against Sporting CP, eventually falling 3-2 on aggregate to the Portuguese club.
This season, Sunderland will get a least eight European games, having qualified for the Europa League group stage. In their first season back in the Premier League, Regis Le Bris led Sunderland to a seventh-placed finish, secured on the final day of the campaign. They finished one point clear of ninth-placed Brentford, while having a worse goal difference.
But are Sunderland ready to take on Europe?
Are Sunderland prepared for Europe?
A strong defence
Sunderland’s success last season was built on one of the best defences in the Premier League. It was as a unit too, with both goalkeeper and defenders performing to the required level. Sunderland ranked low for possessions won in both the attacking (116) and middle thirds (591) in the Premier League last season. Meaning the backline was a busy one.
Despite ranking 18th in the Premier League for shots conceded last season, the quality of the efforts Sunderland faced wasn’t overly high. They faced 60.83 Expected Goals, the sixth-worst in the league, but had the fourth-best post-shot xG conceded (48.03). Only Liverpool (46.15), Manchester City (45.01) and Arsenal (27.62) had a lower post-shot xGC total in the Premier League. No team had a bigger positive difference between xG and post-shot xG conceded than Sunderland’s +12.8.
Sunderland were also pretty strong with defensive set-pieces. They conceded 11.63 xG from set-pieces alone last season, ranking eighth in the league. Their 9.74 post-shot xGC from set-pieces ranked fifth. Again, Sunderland were allowing chances, but they weren’t in real danger as often as other teams might have been. And when the defence was breached, Robin Roefs stepped up.
Sunderland boasted the fourth-best defence in the Premier League last season, conceding 48 goals. They also ranked fourth for their 11 clean sheets, 10 of which were kept by Roefs. The Dutchman made 109 saves in the Premier League last season, the third-most in the league. He was the man to rely on, and actually helped lower the danger on his goal, catching a league-high 45 crosses. Roefs was a man the Sunderland defence knew they could trust if they were beaten, whether through the middle or on the wings.
Sunderland’s quiet summer
It’s important that teams don’t rest on their laurels in football. There’s always room to improve, even if you’re the best team in the world. And a team that is about to play more games than the previous season need to add to their squad. But Sunderland haven’t done that. Yet.
The Black Cats have made just one signing this summer, bringing Thomas Meunier in on a free transfer. The Belgian will provide cover at right-back, allowing Nordi Mukiele to be more flexible as either a full-back or centre-back. Meunier has added to the squad, but he hasn’t really improved it and he turns 35 next month. Sunderland will also view it as a boost that they held on to Granit Xhaka, after his Chelsea links. But, again, that isn’t actually adding the depth Sunderland need to their squad.
At the same time, Sunderland have said goodbye to the likes of Eliezer Mayenda, Arthur Masuaku, Dan Neil and Anthony Patterson among others. They combined for 32 senior appearances last season, so weren’t major parts of the squad. Mayenda was responsible for 23 of those appearances, with Masuaku, Neil and Patterson all eventually sent out on loan. Lutsharel Geertruida has also left following his loan spell.
On paper, Sunderland look like they’ve got good depth going into the season. But there is a serious lack of experience. Of the 29 players to feature in the Premier League for Sunderland last season, only 14 played more than 1,000 minutes. Six played fewer than 200. And they’ve lost 2,441 minutes from Geertruida and Mayenda combined.
Attacking worries
Sunderland’s attack was almost exactly the opposite of their defence last season. Only three sides scored fewer goals in the Premier League last season than Sunderland’s 42. And two of those were relegated at the end of the campaign. Sunderland were even worse for shots (396) and shots on target (130), both ranking 18th in the Premier League. They also ranked 18th for their big chances scored.
As you’d expect with the above numbers, Sunderland ranked poorly for their 40.74 xG and 39.3 post-shot xG. Only Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley fared worse in both metrics. And only Burnley (5.47) were worse than Sunderland (6.29) when it came to set-piece post-shot xG. If Premier League games were decided by xG last season, Sunderland would have been relegated.
Brian Brobbey was Sunderland’s highest scorer in the league last season, with seven goals. He was one of just three players to net at least five for the Black Cats. Overall, that ranked him joint-35th in the league — though he was among fine company such as Bukayo Saka, Mo Salah and Phil Foden.
Then there’s the fact that Sunderland were so low on winning the ball back. The Black Cats made 585 total tackles in the Premier League last season, the fifth-worst in the division. For a team set up to play without the ball, that’s not ideal. Sunderland will need to up their game if they are to both stay in the Premier League and make a good run of the Europa League.