Sunderland marked their return to the Premier League in spectacular fashion as a stunning second half display helped the Black Cats to a 3-0 home win against West Ham United.
With all four corners of the Stadium of Light rocking to their foundations, an outstanding header from striker Eliezer Mayenda become the first Sunderland player since Javi Manquillo to score a top flight goal before play-off semi-final hero Dan Ballard doubled the lead with an equally impressive headed effort. That set the scene for substitute Wilson Isidor to put the seal on a day for the ages on Wearside as he came off the bench to provide an incisive run and clever finish as the Hammers were put to the sword in an eye-catching manner.
The win ensured Sunderland bucked something of a trend for newly-promoted sides as they claimed three points on the opening day of the season and that is a feat that remained out of reach for Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton last season as they failed to pick up a maximum until October. However, unlike all three sides, the Black Cats got their tactics right and used their fast-paced counter-attack to perfection as they produced a remarkable return to the elite of the English game.
Their tactical setup earned praise from new BBC football pundit Wayne Rooney as he discussed the Regis Le Bris blueprint that he believes will produce results in the Premier League and give the Black Cats an opportunity to avoid the same fate suffered by last season’s newly promoted clubs.
Blueprint
Speaking on Match of the Day, the Manchester United and England legend said: “I think the signings were excellent and they had a lot of players making their debuts today. I think the organisation of how they play, they played the exact same way they played last season and obviously managed to get promotion. I know first-hand what it’s like coming up against that and I got one of my only wins last season (against Sunderland). Diarra was a huge threat all game, his runs forward, his energy, there was a huge energy about Sunderland in general and in the second-half, they put the wide players wider to create a bit more space in midfield to go and attack West Ham and West Ham failed to deal with it.
On Sunderland’s counter-attacking play, he said: “We saw last season, the promoted teams coming up, and we saw it with Burnley coming up under Vincent Kompany, they tried to come into the Premier League and play and be expansive and you just can’t do that. The gap from Championship to Premier League is massive and I think the way Sunderland play shows you can get results in this league if you’re organised, you work hard and you stick together as a team. There are so many new players but the players that helped them get into the Premier League last season had a huge impact in the game this afternoon.”
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