Regis Le Bris confirmed ahead of Sunderland’s Championship clash with Stoke City on Saturday that Dennis Cirkin was back, available for selection once again.
The former England youth ace had missed the last three league games after undergoing surgery on a broken wrist.
And his return – Dennis Cirkin is arguably the Championship’s stand-out left-back this season – could hardly have been better timed with Sunderland on a run of six without a win while preparing for a gruelling festive fixture schedule.
But, with two more games to come against Bristol City and Swansea over the next seven days, Regis Le Bris was understandably wary of throwing Cirkin straight back into the XI and risking a setback.
Aji Alese instead started on the left against Stoke instead, with Cirkin playing the final 10 minutes or so off the bench.
If Cirkin is the roundest of pegs for the roundest of holes in Sunderland’s system, then Alese is, well, rather square in comparison. The former West Ham United youngster is naturally centre-half, after all, rather than a full-back.
And while Alese has played on the left on numerous occasions in the past, only once under Le Bris had he lined up out wide.
This, coupled with the fact that Alese had started only once in the Championship since August due to his own injury issues, meant the London-born 23-year-old leapt off the page when Stoke boss Narcis Pelach was analysing potential weak spots in Le Bris’ armour.
Stoke City looked to ‘exploit’ Sunderland’s Aji Alese
Pelach even shifted Lewis Koumas, the ever-lively Liverpool loanee, from the left-hand side to the right in order to put arguably Stoke’s fastest player in direct competition with Alese.
A shift which paid off in just six minutes as a long pass over the top caught Alese out and led to Koumas opening the scoring. A factor which meant Sunderland AFC News handed Alese a match rating of 4/10.
The lowest of any of Le Bris starters.
“Lewis played well. He was back on the right wing and I asked him to run in behind and be attacking the left-back,” Pelach told reporters at full-time.
“I thought that was a moment we could exploit and he scored the goal, so I’m pleased with what he did because he did what we asked.”
At the other end of the pitch, however, it was Sunderland’s own wide players who made the difference.
Patrick Roberts caused plenty of problems with those trademark weaving runs off the right, playing a key role in that comeback victory even if he was understandably overshadowed by Sunderland’s wonderkid matchwinner Tommy Watson.
Narcis Pelach knew of Patrick Roberts and Tommy Watson threat
Watson cancelled out Koumas’ opener almost immediately with a finish Jack Clarke – not to mention the injured Romain Mundle – would have been proud of. He then combined with Roberts to fire in a deflected winner with 86 minutes on the clock.
Pelach knew all too well the threat Sunderland posed in wide areas; Roberts and Watson to natural ball-carriers who’s direct dribbling can easily expose less confident full-backs. Knowing about the threat and stopping it, however, are two very different things.
“I knew they had wingers who are very good in one-on-one situations,” Pelach adds. “I wanted to double up all the time.”
Sunderland are now just two points off table-topping Leeds at the start of this ‘three-game week’.