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Sunderland's Enzo Le Fee celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game during the pre-season friendly match at the LNER Community Stadium, York. Picture date: Saturday July 18, 2026. (Photo by Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA Images via Getty Images) | PA Images via Getty Images
Good to be back…
It was good to have that matchday feeling back, especially with our game at York City being a 3pm kick-off on a Saturday afternoon.
It just means you have something in your mind from the moment you wake on a Saturday morning, that you either know you need to get ready to make your way to the game (probably via the pub), or you know that whatever you get up to, you need to keep an eye out for the line-up being announced and then watch for updates.
It wasn’t until Gav said on the pod during the week that I realised the last time we all saw the Lads in action was that day against Chelsea. It might sound obvious when you think about it, but it feels like more has happened since.
It was a good one to have as well, in quite a few ways. Firstly, it was York, which is always a good day out for a few drinks — it’s just a pity the ground is a bit of a trek, but I think plenty travelled without a ticket to soak in a bit of the atmosphere in the city centre.
Secondly, with the amount of players having a well earned extended break following the World Cup, it was a good chance to get a game under the belts of the rest of the squad ahead of our trip to the US next week. We take on Liverpool next Saturday, so this felt like a warm-up game to the pre-season schedule, which is a warm-up to the season starting, if that makes sense.
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But, this also meant it gave some opportunities for players to impress the Sunderland management and force their way into potential minutes across the pond. Then there’s those who want to force their way back into the reckoning after spending last season with other clubs, as well as players who already know these types of games are about putting themselves in the shop window.
The name that stuck out from the emphatic win in terms of those we didn’t see week after week last season, was Timur Tutierov, and it will be interesting to see where he might end up by the time the first day of the season comes around.
It was also a nice reminder for us that some of these players are still part of the squad as it stands. Alan Browne, Aji Alese, Jenson Seelt and Leo Hjelde are still on the books, and if these players do move on, will they be replaced as we make sure we have the numbers for a Europa League campaign in addition to the usual stuff?
All-in-all it was a good day out all round. A good performance, good result, the sun had his hat on and it’s a nice place. It highlighted the class of players like Enzo Le Fee, who took the opportunity to show his class without needing to get out of second gear.
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Chris Rigg also scored a smart goal, and it was interesting the position he took up to receive the ball ahead of putting the ball in the back of the net. Picking up a position centrally, coming in from out wide might be something we could see more of in the season ahead.
Considering his age, he had a brilliant debut season in the Premier League, and it’s a huge compliment that we would be expecting him to potentially be disappointed with the minutes he ended up having over the course of the season.
We’re never going to take any conclusions from results and performances in pre-season, but it’s these little things that might give us hints on patterns and positions that are being worked on. But time will tell if it’s something we see more of in the weeks and months ahead.
Just a quick point on pre-season — we’ve had a couple of cracking seasons and in the build-up to each of those seasons we’ve won less than half of our friendlies during the summer. So, in the same way as we shouldn’t get caught up in worrying about dodgy results, we won’t get carried away with a result like this either.
Looking good in pink…
It was our first outing in our bright new pink strip, and I thought the Lads looked pretty smart!
I will add a caveat that this was on a bright summer’s day while the sun was shining and the pitch was dry, I am finding it difficult to think of what it might look like on a dismal, dark day in the middle of winter, but if we get a result on those days I doubt we’ll care.
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The World Cup comes to an end…
I’m typing this while watching the final, while thinking what I might have been doing otherwise had England not retreated like Napoleon from Moscow towards their own goal in the closing stages during the week, but also thinking how we might look back at this tournament.
My first one was Italia 90’ and although the football wasn’t great, it created the romance to be remembered fondly. South Africa I think of noisy instruments and Qatar will stick in the mind for the events to host it in the first place, combined with not being the failure that many predicted, but this one is a weird one.
The football hasn’t been the main event unfortunately. It could have overtaken other things if it felt the quality was there, but I’m not sure it has. If anything, the first half of the final goes some way to sum it up: defensive and cautious.
The England/France bronze thing game made me think as well. It’s a tournament with the best players in the World, and the cycle of football tactics might be in a place where these players are very rarely given the chance to do their thing.
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In the 3rd/4th place play-off, or whatever it’s called, the jeopardy wasn’t there. There wasn’t a fear of losing in how the sides setup and the mindset they could approach it, and it showed. Top class players expressed themselves.
Of course, it’s an extreme, but it made me think if football has become too cautious to be successful. Look at the players Argentina have, including what many consider to be the best there has ever been. Their mindset is to defend and break-up play and spoil the game, rather than play. Considering how far they’ve gone you could argue it’s worked for them, but at what cost when this team is remembered?
I just feel like football might be due another evolution at the highest level, but I might just be being romantic about it all. I suspect the amount of money involved, the fear of losing will always outweigh any ambition to play in a more open, attacking style.
On the other hand, this might have been something a Stoke City fan might have said before they replaced Pulis.
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