Seelt and Ekwah impress as Beale gets first Sunderland win

Jack Clarke’s second-half strike ensured the red and white faithful would return to Wearside with three points moving back into the Championship top-six.

Here are some of the key talking points from the MKM Stadium…

Jenson Seelt back in the side

Michael Beale made two changes for his first away game in charge – one of those enforced following what is likely to be a serious injury to Niall Huggins, and a second which felt needed when it came to leaving Abdoullah Ba out of the firing line with the 20-year-old Frenchman coming under scrutiny recently, particularly following the defeat to Coventry City.

Jenson Seelt was handed just a fourth start for Sunderland since his summer switch from PSV Eindhoven, with Bradley Dack the preferred choice in attack, which we will discuss later.

For Seelt, though, it was an opportunity to build on what had been his best performance to date in the win over Leeds United at the beginning of December. The Dutchman was a key figure in what was largely considered a tactical masterstroke from interim manager Mike Dodds in nullifying a potent Leeds attack having flattered to deceive in starts against Huddersfield Town and Birmingham City.

Interestingly, however, Beale opted for a straight swap positionally, with Seelt in for Huggins despite Seelt’s influence against Leeds coming as a right-sided centre-back. The emergence of Timothee Pembele to Sunderland’s squad for the first time this season may lay the foundations moving forward as a more natural replacement for Huggins, at least in an attacking sense, should Seelt be preferred in a back three.

As it was, Seelt operated quite restrictively up against one of the Championship’s in-form players heading into the game in Scott Twine – the former MK Dons winger starting to show the kind of form which led Burnley to splash £4million on him last summer with three goals in his last six games. The two shared exchanges in the opening stages; Seelt laying down a marker with a strong early interception before Twine later demonstrated his threat when dragging the Dutchman out of position into midfield to create an opening in behind.

As the game began to settle, Seelt started creeping into the Hull half to accompany his threat from a number of Sunderland corners in the first 45. On those occasions Seelt was allowed to advance, either Dan Neil or Pierre Ekwah would slot into the right-back position. But it was on these occasions where Huggins’ absence was also felt with his pace significantly missed when Ozan Tufan led the Hull breakaway from a first half corner. To Seelt’s credit, he did get back into a reasonable position inside his own penalty area before Tufan sold him on the touchline when diving in which created a dangerous situation for Beale’s side.

But a decent indicator as to the job Seelt had done at full-back came on the half hour when Twine swapped wings to move over onto Hull’s right having enjoyed little joy.

Despite an early scare at the beginning of the second half where he was left in a two-against-one scenario, Seelt’s comfort in the game continued in the second period as Sunderland grew in control of the game with the Dutchman, and Trai Hume in the opposite full-back role, able to step up and allow Luke O’Nien and Dan Ballard to take charge in defence.

Seelt still had to be alert when denying what felt like it would have been a certain goal when stretching to head clear Tyler Morton’s inviting cross before showing some limitations in attack when leading a counter only turn possession over when choosing the wrong option with Sunderland out-numbering Hull.

Jack Clarke’s late strike saw Sunderland drop back into a compact back five with Seelt noticeably tucked in alongside O’Nien allowing substitute Adil Aouchiche to revert as the right-sided wing-back as Sunderland saw out the game and Seelt a second successive clean sheet as a starter.

Dack the striker

Sunderland’s profligacy from their out-and-out strikers this season is no secret with Beale now the third man in charge to field a midfielder-by-trade in the false nine position having started Ba in that role against Coventry.

Here, though, there was slightly different approach with Dack brought in for Ba as he was joined by Jobe Bellingham in what passed an eye-test as a front four with Clarke and Patrick Roberts in their traditional wide areas. The tandem between Dack and Jobe was key, particularly out of possession as when one triggered the first line of Sunderland’s press the other dropped back into a No.10 position.

Beale had suggested Sunderland were good between both boxes against Coventry, yet this slight tweak didn’t really reap any rewards in terms of an improvement inside Hull’s box either with very little for Matt Ingram to do, despite some pleasant build-up play involving that front four at times.

Dack has yet to convince Sunderland supporters this season with the majority of his appearances coming from the bench. Dack certainly ticks a box when it comes to experience within the Sunderland squad, but with just one goal and one assist to his name in 11 appearances ahead of this one he has not yet offered enough to suggest he has the answers to Sunderland’s dilemmas in attack either.

Beale’s experiment with Dack and Jobe lasted just 40 minutes, however, as the 29-year-old was forced off with an injury prior to the interval after a collision in midfield when overstretching for the ball. That brings another issue with Dack to the fold in that he has yet to really suggest he has fully hit his peak fitness on Wearside with another potential setback now looming.

Ekwah returning to form

Beale’s decision to lead with a 4-2-4 meant an increased pressure on both Neil and Ekwah as holding midfielders. Ekwah was found wanting on a couple of occasions in the Coventry defeat, particularly his involvement for Callum O’Hare’s goal which doubled the Sky Blues’ lead at the Stadium of Light.

The midfielder has yet to return to the kind of form we saw at the end of last season and the beginning of this – his display in the 5-0 win over Southampton a foundation which has not been built on since returning from injury in October some 12 appearances ago with this another mixed bag at times. There were some nice intricate passages with Neil to advance through Hull’s midfield while there remained the odd lapse in concentration as was the case when hanging a leg out in vain in an attempt to stop a Liam Delap counter-attack in the first half, not too unlike the aforementioned involvement in O’Hare’s goal for Coventry.

On the flip side we did see what Ekwah is all about when tracking back brilliantly to dispossess Twine and deny a potential break before almost getting on the end of Clarke’s cross to cap the move. He was then involved in Sunderland’s first big moment of the second half when his attempt at goal brought strong appeals for handball form the traveling contingent at least.

Sunderland’s control in possession started to threaten around the hour and Ekwah was integral to that with a series of key link-ups – one in particular with Aouchiche which required  some excellent last ditch defending to turn behind for a corner after the pair were slick to work to the byline in a tight space.

Ekwah’s return to the kind of form seen earlier in the season still remains a few rungs away from where it could be, but this felt like a step in the right direction for the most part.

Sunderland answer mentality question

One of the main things many were keen to see from Sunderland on Boxing Day was if there would be a reaction to what was the worst possible start to Beale’s tenure against Coventry. Tensions were heightened at the Stadium of Light in that defeat with questions asked of the players as well in what was a lacklustre performance to say the least.

At the very least here there was a significant improvement in terms of the attitude on display against a Hull side who had won four of their last six on Humberside. After a first half which transcended into a bit of a chess match between the two sides it was Beale’s men who had their foot on the accelerator after the break, albeit without creating much clear-cut prior to an excellent opportunity for Roberts when played through on goal by Clarke.

That kind of summed up where Sunderland have been and perhaps re-emphasised Beale’s initial assessment of being good between the two boxes. That threatened to be the case once more here before they were able to turn to their familiar ‘break glass in case of an emergency’ with a wonderful, trademark finish from Clarke as his skipped inside from the left to curl beautifully into the bottom corner and hand Sunderland a significant win for a number of reasons.

Their resolve has been tested in recent weeks, particularly throughout the transition period of the new head coach, but they stood up to that test here. For Beale, there may still be some way to go for him to win over the hearts of many on Wearside, but things threatened to escape him before he even got going at the Stadium of Light following the events of recent weeks and his home bow with Coventry. Instead, this allows everyone a sigh of relief and the opportunity to take stock once more.