A ranking of Sunderland’s players has uncovered one massive surprise at the foot of the list.
Sunderland have endured a phenomenal 2024/25 Championship campaign so far under new boss Regis Le Bris.
The Black Cats have shown quality across the pitch, a stark contrast to the poor 2023/24 season, showing that Le Bris has done brilliantly to get a tune out of a similar squad that was so low on confidence last year.
When looking at where Sunderland’s strengths lie, eyes first turn to the centre-of-the-park consisting of Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg, as well as the forward line that has seen both Eliezer Mayenda and Wilson Isidor shine in the difficult circumstances of having main provider Romaine Mundle out in recent months.
However, according to the stats, one Sunderland pair surprisingly find themselves at the bottom end of the list of the Black Cats’ top performers.
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Sunderland player ranking sees Eliezer Mayenda and Wilson Isidor at the bottom
When ranking Sunderland players, who have appeared in at least 50% of games, per SofaScore, Trai Hume rather unsurprisingly tops the list following his brilliant season, and he has joined in that top three by Bellingham and Mundle.
But, looking at the bottom end of the list is where the surprises spring up, which is the fact that both Sunderland strikers Mayenda and Isidor rank as the two lowest rated Black Cats players.
The attacking duo of Mayenda and Isidor have been handed an average rating of 6.78 and 6.80 respectively, despite collectively scoring just short of a third of Sunderland’s goals in the current Championship season.
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Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda shows issue that Regis Le Bris must solve patiently
The qualities of both Mayenda, who has been regarded by Anthony Patterson as ‘unbelievable’ and Isidor have surprised many, particularly the latter, who was regarded last season as a fourth choice behind the likes of Nazariy Rusyn, who has recently moved away from Wearside on loan.
However, the fact that the pair find themselves in the lower echelons of the Sunderland rankings ultimately comes down to small issues with consistency.
The pair, admittedly, thrive as a front two, and their performance has been hampered at times this season due to playing out of position, with Mayenda notably playing on the left earlier on this season.
But it will be down to Le Bris to help get that consistency across his strikers, and once he is able to manage that, then the Black Cats will be set up perfectly for the rest of the season.