It was a successful if not a little frustrating night for Sunderland against Derby County on Tuesday night, with a 1-0 win the least the Black Cats deserved.
Regis Le Bris’ men held firm against Derby to claim the narrow victory that takes them third in the Championship table, and despite allowing the Rams a few opportunities, Sunderland were dominant for the most part.
Eliezer Mayenda proved he is a ‘real talent’ for Sunderland with the winning goal, while the defensive line were strong once more to keep a clean sheet.
But, Sunderland fans may be a little disappointed not to have won by more. Sure, a bizarre refereeing decision cost them a second goal, but one player could and should have had more impact, too.
Enzo Le Fee struggled to influence the game from the left vs Derby County
We will preface this by saying Enzo Le Fee did not have a bad game against Derby at all. The new signing looked lively at times, offered some neat link-up play with Dennis Cirkin down the left, and did register a couple of key passes on the night.
The problem is, with Le Bris insisting on putting the Frenchman out on the left-hand side, Le Fee’s influence on the game is being restricted, and you can quite clearly tell he is not a natural wide player. You only have to look at his heatmap from the game to see that he is desperate to roam the pitch.
Le Fee had a 75% success rate with his passes, which is all well and good, but we know he’s an accomplished passer of the ball already. What we didn’t see against Derby is his ability to really break the lines and make something happen.
Out of five attempted dribbles, Le Fee only managed to beat his man once. He also won just three of his duels on the night, and lost possession 15 times. Even his crossing wasn’t up to scratch, with two attempted and none successful.
The fact of the matter is, Le Fee is not a winger, and playing him out wide is a makeshift solution that is failing to fulfill the player’s massive potential.
Regis Le Bris has to make room for Le Fee in the middle
Granted, Le Bris has a midfield dilemma to solve here — how do you fit Le Fee, Jobe Bellingham, Chris Rigg, and Dan Neil into two or three spaces in the starting XI?
Against Derby, Le Bris opted for Rigg and Le Fee out wide, but neither player is being used to their strengths there, and it will eventually hurt the team. Unfortunately, the Sunderland manager is going to have to make some tough decisions if he wants to get the best out of his players.
The good news — if you can call it good news — is that Rigg in particular looks like he needs a rest. The youngster is only just back from injury, and you can tell he’s not quite at full sharpness.
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With a home game against struggling Plymouth Argyle coming up at the weekend, surely Le Bris will shuffle the pack and unleash Le Fee in his favoured central role. If he does, that could be devastating for Plymouth, and we could see Sunderland take their game to the next level.
It’s great that Le Fee is so versatile, and as mentioned before, he didn’t have a bad game against Derby at all. The thing is, there’s just so, so much more to come, and it’s a shame to see him limited out wide.