Sunderland may only be midway through their pre-season schedule but Patrick Roberts has already equalled his goal tally from last season in what is a significant period for the winger following a challenging 2023-24 season.
Régis Le Bris took charge of his first games as Sunderland’s new head coach with a double-header against North East non-league opposition earlier this month. The Frenchman enjoyed a mixed bag in terms of results as Sunderland strolled to a 5-0 success over National League North outfit South Shields before suffering defeat to Gateshead from the non-league’s premier division ahead of the club’s trip to Spain which yielded a draw with Nottingham Forest and a late win over Spanish outfit CD Eldense.
But while results certainly do not dictate at this stage of pre-season, Le Bris has highlighted how there has been plenty for him to consider following Sunderland’s start to their Championship preparations, with the majority of his squad, and a number of academy prospects, all completing plenty of minutes since returning to training at the beginning of the month.
And, looking ahead to the start of the new league season, one of the key factors Le Bris will likely have taken into consideration is the role of Roberts after the winger scored his first goal since last summer's trip to America when finding the target in a 4-2 win over North Carolina.
Roberts became something of an enigma for Sunderland last year with the winger struggling for both form and fitness throughout the campaign as the club’s goalscoring burden ended up resting solely on the shoulders of opposite winger Jack Clarke.
Clarke, like Roberts, got on the scoresheet in his first pre-season outing when converting from the penalty spot in the defeat at the Gateshead International Stadium before adding another from 12-yards in the draw with Nottingham Forest with the 23-year-old, seemingly, picking up where he left off last season after another stellar year in a red and white shirt. But for Roberts to find himself back amongst the goals against South Shields, as well as providing an assist for Trai Hume, felt a little more significant.
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If Le Bris is to enjoy success with Sunderland this season, getting Roberts back towards somewhere near his best is going to be important. Having struggled for goals from their centre-forward additions last season, Roberts’ subsequent drop off in form came as a huge blow to Tony Mowbray, Michael Beale and Mike Dodds in the head coach role. The 27-year-old was one of five players to contribute double figures in terms of goals and assists in the 2022-23 season with 12, but that figure dropped off by 10 in 2023-24, with Roberts having just two assists to his name at the season’s end.
With Roberts’ form declining, and Sunderland losing key players such as Ross Stewart, Alex Pritchard and Amad Diallo over the course of the year, it meant Clarke was the only player to uphold his double-digit haul last season with 15 goals and four assists – something which will need to change under Le Bris.
Roberts was arguably the most notable player to struggle in the wake of Mowbray’s departure in December – albeit he had just one assist to his name in the 17 appearances Mowbray was in charge for through the first half of the season. Mowbray would often declare his admiration for Roberts as a technician and routinely built up his ability in the media whereby he referenced him as one of the best players outside of the Premier League on more than one occasion.
With dazzling footwork and the ability to go down the line or cut inside onto his favoured left foot as an inverted winger, Roberts quickly established himself as a go-to player for Sunderland after arriving in the January transfer window of 2022. The former Manchester City winger scored the crucial goal of Sunderland’s League One play-off semi-final second leg against Sheffield Wednesday and formed part of a fearsome forward line upon the club’s return to the Championship – one of his finer displays coming in a 3-0 win over Reading where the cultured winger provided two expert finishes to hand Sunderland the initiative as Mowbray appeared to be tapping into the undoubted ability Roberts has always possessed.
“Hopefully the penny is dropping for Pat,” Mowbray said last year. “He’s an amazing footballer and I hope we can help him play in the Premier League. I think he’s starting to live the life of a footballer from what I can see.
“He’s lost two-and-a-half kilos in the last few weeks. I’m just trying to make him live like a footballer. Patrick Roberts shouldn’t be playing in League One and, with total respect to this football club, he should be playing in the Premier League in my opinion. He has to live like it. It’s down to him. I know I maximised my career to get to where I got in football and I wasn’t a superstar.”
Having signed an initial short-term deal at the Stadium of Light, Roberts became another key play to commit his longer-term future to the club last year when agreeing a new deal until 2026 – a move which felt needed throughout the club given the attacking issues that were present.
Roberts, similar to Clarke on the opposite wing, is a player who has been ushered out on loan several times with Celtic, Norwich City, Middlesbrough, Derby County and French side Troyes all on his CV. He was in need of a home, something he found at Sunderland having thrived under Mowbray.
“When you go on loan quite a bit you realise when you are stable in some places which is good for you, it’s good for the mind and it’s good for your football,” Roberts said after signing his new contract.
“It’s been great here, I’ve loved everything about the club. It’s been a good journey that I’m willing to continue. It’s been quite a ride, but that’s what it’s like being at a big club with the expectations and expectations grow the more the seasons go on.
“We’ve got an aim to get promoted, that was my aim and my goal when I came here and it still is now.”
But for Sunderland to realise that aim, rediscovering Roberts’ form may be key.
The radar below, courtesy of Fbref, details the drop off in form from Roberts across Sunderland’s two seasons back in the Championship where he only exceeded his 2022-23 metrics slightly in terms of passes attempted and progressive carries. There were, however, improvements in some of his defensive outputs such as clearances, percentage of aerials won and dribblers tackled which demonstrates the shift in the teams objectives from Mowbray to Beale at the turn of the year.
Roberts started each of Beale’s first three games in charge before picking up a calf injury in the draw with Rotherham United where he would play just 120 minutes more football under Beale before his sacking, having picked up a hamstring injury in his penultimate game at Huddersfield Town.
It meant when he returned under interim head coach Dodds against Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland’s tandem wingers of Roberts and Clarke had been on the field together just four times in 15 games in 2024. Roberts, however, failed to make any kind of impact as Sunderland were humiliated by Blackburn before Dodds would go into some detail on the anomaly surrounding the 27-year-old and his struggles last season, as well as emphasising just how important this summer’s pre-season schedule would be for him.
“We had a really honest conversation about that and Pat showed real maturity in terms of an admission on his behalf that he was completely below par,” Dodds explained to We Are Sunderland following the 5-1 defeat to Blackburn.
“Pat, for me, his ability is Premier League standard. That is without question. Pat isn’t going to like me at times because I probably need to put some stronger boundaries in place to hopefully get the best out of him.
“If I had a fully fit Patrick Roberts, I’m sure the results would have looked completely different. But we had a really honest conversation about pre-season and Pat has got to really knuckle down in pre-season. He should be a pillar for this football club to take us back to the Premier League and for whatever reason this year [it hasn’t happened].
“He’s told me some stuff that will obviously remain private between us two, but by his own admission he hasn’t hit the standards that he hit last year. I expect a really big pre-season from Pat and, I won’t say new and improved, but I expect a Patrick Roberts that should be playing in the Premier League next season.”
So far, that ‘really big pre-season’ has resulted in a goal and an assist for Roberts at South Shields, as well as exhibiting some of that defensive discipline from last season against Nottingham Forest.
Roberts’ goal against South Shields showed the kind of quick feet you would associate with the winger, while there were tangible signs of his link-up play with Hume on notice when assisting the Northern Irishman for his goal at the 1st Cloud Arena.
Roberts was less involved in the early exchanges in Spain as he was tasked with providing significant cover for Hume up against the lively Callum Hudson-Odoi in the blistering heat at the Pinatar Arena. Having navigated their way through the early stages, however, Roberts did show glimpses of his technical ability with a series of exchanges with Chris Rigg.
Towards the end of last season in Roberts’ absence, it was Rigg who occupied the right wing berth under Dodds as he carefully introduced the teenager into the first team environment. Le Bris, however, seems to have different plans for Rigg after he agreed his first professional deal with the club earlier this summer. Rigg has been utilised in central midfield in each of the pre-season games he has featured in but that experience of operating in a wider role showed potential reward as he and Roberts were effectively in tandem a number of times against the Premier League side.
Roberts banked 70 minutes in Sunderland’s first pre-season friendly in Spain before coming off the bench for the final 20 minutes in their second friendly with CD Eldense and again showed one or two flashes of getting back up to speed – it was Roberts’ initial driving run inside which eventually shuffled defenders out of position before Luis Hemir picked up possession from Hume’s tackle to fire a stunning winning goal.
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But it’s that kind of end product Sunderland will be keen to unlock with Roberts heading into the new campaign.
There’s no doubting with both Roberts and Clarke operating from either wing, Sunderland are a much tougher proposition for opposition defences. But where Roberts was able to contribute towards 12 goals during the 2022-23 campaign, his end product was often left lacking last season.
Take his solo run and effort at goal against Middlesbrough, for example.
With the Wear-Tees derby locked at 0-0, Mowbray’s side had started the game at the Stadium of Light brightly, looking to emulate the display against their neighbours from January 2023 where Roberts formed part of a breathless attacking display.
The image below shows the kinds of area Roberts can be dangerous from when picking up possession wide on the right as he squares up Lukas Engel.
Roberts then has the ability to drive at defenders and go inside or outside. On this occasion, as shown above, Roberts darts in-field and towards the edge of the penalty area.
As space opens up for him, Roberts gains a clear sight of Seny Dieng’s goal from inside the penalty area. With Dieng rooted, Roberts has options either side, high or low, of the goalkeeper, but his composure lets him down as Dieng is able to save with his feet within close proximity.
Had Roberts opened the scoring, the game may well have unfolded differently as the ten-men of Sunderland would go on to lose heavily.
At that point in the season, however, concerns over Roberts’ form were few and far between as he was still routinely producing those kinds of dazzling runs.
Roberts contributed his first assist of the campaign weeks later in the win over Norwich when turning back to Hume to strike from range, but the winger was unable to add to that tally until February when teeing up Pierre Ekwah from a free kick routine against Plymouth Argyle.
Roberts had opportunities to open his own account for the season where a lack of composure again played its part.
In Beale’s first away game in charge at Hull City on Boxing Day, Roberts threatened to be back to his best in a slightly tweaked system. The winger tried his luck from distance in the first half before we saw the Clarke and Roberts partnership link-up in the second half which should have resulted in a goal.
The image below shows how Clarke was able to advance in-field from the left, leaving Regan Slater exposed at left-back for Roberts to exploit the space in behind.
Clarke slides a pass between the defence for Roberts to run onto.
The winger has time to shift the ball back onto his favoured left foot and open up the angle of Matt Ingram’s goal. Similar to his effort against Middlesbrough, however, Roberts fires too close to the goalkeeper, who is able to deny at his near post.
Sunderland would go on to win the game thanks to Clarke who demonstrated the kind of finish Roberts had been attempting.
As questions amplified regarding Roberts’ form and fitness in the second half of the season, with Sunderland struggling for results in the Championship, his return against Blackburn left little to be desired. Roberts typified the struggles Sunderland were facing towards the end of the season with confidence visibly drained as moves and transitions which had worked so well during the club’s first season back in the Championship were becoming few and far between.
Roberts’ season in front of goal was summed up in the final day defeat to Sheffield Wednesday when spurning a clear opportunity to get Sunderland back into the game from little more than six yards out.
Having wasted a similar opportunity the week previous at Watford when getting his feet caught in a tangle on the counter-attack, Roberts was presented with the perfect chance in the first half after Clarke had found Aji Alese down the left-hand-side.
Clarke’s ball allowed Alese to send a low cross into the box first time which was met by Roberts, who had created space away from his marker.
Roberts, on his left side, had most of the goal to aim for but mistimed his effort by some distance when firing well over the bar as he would go on to be substituted at half-time.
No matter where Roberts has been in his career, he has always drawn attention for his ability and potential - it is why Manchester City were willing to part with a reported £12million for him as a teenager in 2015.
Roberts has played for a number of significant clubs, including Celtic where he spent two years on loan and even scored against his parent club in the Champions League. "I'm so happy with his performance. He has potential," said Pep Guardiola after the 1-1 draw at Parkhead. Guardiola would go onto say 'we know his quality' when pushed on Roberts' future before the Spaniard would eventually be the one to put the brakes on a permanent move to Glasgow under manager Brendan Rodgers who described him as a 'top young English talent.'
At 27, Roberts has undoubtedly progressed his game on Wearside, where he is on the brink of making a milestone 100th appearance for the club this season. Although considered a senior player within the dressing room - Roberts the second oldest player in the squad behind Luke O'Nien prior to this summer's additions of goalkeeper Simon Moore and midfielder Alan Browne - there remains an element of untapped potential which is what Le Bris is keen to discover.
Le Bris is renowned for developing young talent during his time with Lorient and Stade Rennais before that, but it will be his endeavours in cajoling a more experienced and high profile player in Roberts back to his best which will be of essence this season. The Frenchman has been able to cast an eye over Roberts in recent weeks since taking full control at the Stadium of Light and has already identified his importance to the squad and the need to rediscover his form when it comes to his attacking threat and goal contributions.
"He has a good physical shape at the moment," Le Bris said of Roberts at the conclusion of Sunderland's pre-season training camp in Spain.
"It's the first layer to be good during a season. Now he plays wide as a winger with the support of Trai [Hume] and Riggy against Nottingham Forest. They play well together I think. So now, for this kind of player, he needs to be impactful in the last third of the pitch.
"If he can do it, he can be very important for us."
Having been backed by Mowbray throughout his time at the Stadium of Light, Roberts has since been given a public vote of confidence from each of his predecessors in Beale, Dodds and now Le Bris.
The winger possesses a mercurial talent which strikes a chord with the Sunderland fanbase who often refer to him as a 'mini Messi' when serenading his name on the terraces, and yet we are at a distinguishable point in his timeline on Wearside heading into the new Championship season as to which way the pendulum may swing.
To say Sunderland's promotion ambitions rest entirely on a return to form for Roberts would be hyperbole, but a fit, firing and carefree Roberts is an undoubted asset to this squad and the expectations placed upon Le Bris.
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