Sunderland are now being linked with a move for IF Elfsborg boss Jimmy Thelin.
Sunderland remain without a boss after sacking Tony Mowbray last week, but appear to be in the latter stages of their search.
Will Still looked like the front-runner before Fabrizio Romano revealed that a new name was Sunderland’s top target.
Soon after, Alan Nixon revealed that the 45-year-old Thelin had held talks with the club and that he’s now a strong candidate to come in at the Stadium of Light.
Who is Jimmy Thelin?
Thelin is currently the manager of Swedish top flight side IF Elfsborg.
His side have just finished 2nd in the Allsvenskan table and have qualified for the Europa League next season, missing out on the title to Swedish giants Malmo only on goal difference.
In 30 league games in the 2023 campaign, Elfsborg scored 59 goals and conceded 26.
Thelin has been in charge at the club since 2018. Since then he’s made Elfsborg into title challengers in Sweden, though his side are yet to win the title under his watch.
Before landing the Elfsborg job, Thelin won the Swedish second tier title with Jonkopings Sondra in 2015; he spent three years there after previously working as a youth coach at the club.
What do we know about his style of play?
Going off this season’s stats, we can assume that Thelin is a manager with an overall game given that his Elfsborg side boasted the best defensive record in the league, and the third-best attacking record.
And there was no real standout goal-scorer in the side either.
Midfielder Keppe Okkels scored 11 and assisted seven, with Elfsborg having six players in total who scored five or more goals in the Allsvenskan in 2023.
A report from Total Football Analysis earlier in the year revealed that Thelin’s preferred formation is 4-2-3-1, but that he can sometimes don a 4-4-1-1.
And a big aspect of Thelin’s style of play appears to be that his Elfsborg side defended right across the pitch.
Regaining the ball high in the opposition half was a big factor in Elfsborg success, but so too was the team’s ability to win the ball back just about anywhere on the pitch.
Similar to this, Elfsborg don a very high press, but their pressing game is not just limited to running at defenders high up the pitch.
Elfsborg players would swarm on opposition players just about anywhere on the pitch which helped them regain possession, and steadily build up attacking plays.
Over the course of the 2023 league season, Elfsborg averaged 46.5% possession per game and made 308 accurate passes per game (Sofascore).
The team also averaged 148 accurate passes in their own half compared to 166 in the opposition half, playing 31.2 long balls and only 5.2 crosses, suggesting that Thelin’s method is to either attack through the middle or work the ball into the box via shorter passes.
So far this season, Sunderland have recorded 452 accurate passes per game, with 240 in their own half and 216 in the opposition half, with 18.6 long balls and 4.3 crosses per game.
Whilst Thelin’s Elfsborg don’t quite pass the ball around as much as Sunderland do, having a better set of players on Wearside could see Thelin’s methods prevail even more so than they did in Sweden.
He seems like a very contemporary coach with his Elfsborg side enjoying success over the past few years, and he could yet be a perfect fit for what is a very contemporary-run Sunderland side.