As the current crop of Black Cats stars look to achieve promotion this season, we’re looking back at the best Sunderland XI of the last 25 years.
Regis Le Bris could make history with his young Sunderland squad this season if they make it back to the Premier League, but they’ll have to go via the play-offs it seems, which is no mean feat.
They’ll be looking to join some Sunderland legends in achieving success with the club, but they have some pretty big shoes to fill if they want to be considered among the top talent to tread the turf at the Stadium of Light.
We’ve already put together the worst Sunderland XI of the last 25 years. Now, we look at the best Sunderland XI of the 21st century, with recent heroes and past icons making the cut for this formidable lineup.
- READ MORE: Is this Sunderland’s best XI after January transfer window? Solving Regis Le Bris’ midfield headache
The best Sunderland XI since the turn of the millennium
GK – Thomas Sorensen
Sunderland’s epic team of the late 1990s spilled over into the early-200s as the Black Cats looked to establish themselves in the Premier League, and Thomas Sorensen was key to that relative success. The Danish ‘keeper may have been in Peter Schmeichel’s shadow at international level, but he was a crucial cog in the Sunderland machine under Peter Reid.
RB – Phil Bardsley
This was a pretty easy one. Phil Bardsley joined Sunderland in 2008 after pinballing around various loan spells and struggling to make something of himself at Manchester United. The defender found his home at Sunderland, though, and went on to rack up 174 appearances for the Mackems in a six-year stay.
Solid, hard-working, and completely committed to the club, Bardsley was a fan-favourite during his Sunderland days and a very effective full-back.
CB – John O’Shea
After becoming an underrated cult icon at Manchester United and winning everything there is to win, John O’Shea found his way to the North East and established himself as a Sunderland hero, too. He’s up there when it comes to the modern era as one of the players with the most appearances for the club (226) and was even club captain for a while.
At United, O’Shea looked fairly average, but he showed his quality at Sunderland and is quite easily the best centre-back the Black Cats have seen since the turn of the century.
CB – Luke O’Nien
Speaking of underrated defenders with a mass of appearances for the club, Luke O’Nien deserves a lot of credit for what he has achieved and the amount of passion and hard work he has offered to the club during his years on Wearside.
O’Nien now has over 300 appearances for Sunderland, which is frankly astounding, and testament to the level of consistency he has shown over the last seven years.
LB – Michael Gray
He’s the most recent player to feature on the list of all-time Sunderland appearances (341) and also one of the Sunderland players with the most England caps (albeit with just three international appearances). Michael Gray was an exceptional left-back, and probably deserved a lot more credit during his playing career.
Perfectly solid in defensive areas, with a great level of dynamism and athleticism, Gray was able to push forward and contribute in attacking areas AND offer the cover needed at the back, too.
RM – Steed Malbranque
While the Frenchman often operated in the middle for Sunderland, he was arguably most effective when playing out wide thanks to his impeccable vision and ability to find a killer pass. Steed Malbranque was a top attacking threat, be it via assists or goals himself, and really made the Sunderland team tick during his stay in the North East.
CM – Lee Cattermole
While Paolo Di Canio wasn’t a fan of Lee Cattermole, we certainly were and still are. The combative midfielder was a nightmare for his opponents, but a dream teammate for any Sunderland player due to his work rate, his terrier-like displays, and his strong leadership.
He was never the best player from a technical point of view, but he gave everything for the cause, and always helped the players around him raise their game.
CM – Gavin McCann
While Lee Cattermole was loud, brash, and aggressive, Gavin McCann was the complete opposite. The central midfielder was really understated, and just did the simple stuff really, really well. Calm and composed on the ball, a strong passer of the ball, and capable of putting in the tackles to break up play, McCann helped Sunderland establish themselves in the Premier League in the early-2000s.
LM – Jack Clarke
Some Sunderland fans still haven’t forgiven Jack Clarke for the way he left the club last summer, but there’s no denying he is probably the most exciting player to play for the club in the last 25 years. Clarke has flair, skills, a creative footballing brain, and was a constant threat down the wing for the Black Cats over the last couple of years.
There’s constantly talk of Clarke returning to Sunderland, with things not working out at Ipswich Town. Even those who are still angry with him would surely welcome the young winger back with open arms, given his immense talent.
ST – Kevin Phillips
This is probably the most predictable part of the team, but it’s predictable for a very good reason. How could we not pick Kevin Phillips (and his strike partner) after he scored 113 goals in 208 games for the Black Cats? Phillips fired Sunderland to promotion from the second tier in that record-smashing team of 1998/99, and then went on to be a prolific marksman in the Premier League, too.
ST – Niall Quinn
Like Phillips, Niall Quinn was integral to that success Sunderland achieved in the late-90s and early-2000s, and his strike partnership with Phillips is the stuff of legends. He scored less goals than Phillips (63 in 206 games), but he was still involved in some of the most entertaining moments in Sunderland’s recent history. A big target man who was brilliant with his head, surprisingly competent with the ball at his feet, and a natural finisher, Quinn is a bona fide Sunderland hero.
Honourable mentions for the best Sunderland XI
A few goalkeepers that nearly made the cut would be Mart Poom, who was a Premier League icon back in the day. Meanwhile, Jordan Pickford had a great start to his career at Sunderland, but didn’t stick around long enough to make his mark in this best Sunderland XI.
The defensive line was pretty clear cut, but the likes of Stephen Wright and Ian Harte pushed Bardsley and Gray fairly close. Current stars Trai Hume and Dennis Cirkin also have the potential to break into the team in the future if they keep up their levels for the rest of their time at Sunderland.
The midfield was a tricky one to pin down. We were incredibly tempted to include Yann M’Vila, whose loan spell at Sunderland was brief, but the Frenchman showed he was a top class player in that short space of time. Jordan Henderson, too, was a terrific player for his boyhood club, but only really came into his own after joining Liverpool.
Give it a few years, and we’ll also be seriously discussing the trio of Dan Neil, Jobe Bellingham, and Chris Rigg for this team. The latter, in particular, is a generational talent who could become one of the greatest homegrown players Sunderland has ever produced.
Perhaps the most difficult exclusion from the best Sunderland XI, though, was Jermain Defoe. His move to Wearside in 2015 was a surprise, but ended up becoming a really positive period of his career. He scored 34 goals in 87 games in red and white, and endeared himself to the Sunderland faithful immediately.