How Nazariy Rusyn ended Sunderland striker drought

Having waited, and waited, and waited, Sunderland were finally able to celebrate a striker scoring a goal as Nazariy Rusyn grabbed his first goal for the club in their 2-0 win over Preston North End as they cruised to their first three points of 2024 at the Stadium of Light.

There are multiple points on this timeline, none of which have made particularly good reading for Sunderland when it comes to the potency of their attack – at least from out-and-out strikers. But you have to go back to April last year and the 1-1 draw with Huddersfield Town for the last time a striker scored for Sunderland. Unfortunately, that striker did not belong to them with Joe Gelhardt on loan from Leeds United.

Prior to that, you have to drop back into to February, for 2022 summer signing Jewison Bennette’s consolation goal in the FA Cup fourth round replay with Fulham at the Stadium of Light in a 3-2 defeat. For a contracted Sunderland striker in the league you have to go back a few weeks prior to that when Ross Stewart – who has since ruptured his achilles for Sunderland and missed the second half of last season and the beginning of this season before joining Southampton for £10million on transfer deadline day, scored against Sunderland under-21s on his return and then been ruled out for the rest of this season for the Saints through injury as well – scored the opening goal of the Wear-Tees derby win over Middlesbrough at the Stadium of Light on January 22, 2023.

It sounds almost hyperbolic, but that has been the issue plaguing Sunderland for almost a year since Stewart’s injury and the return of Ellis Simms to Everton from his loan spell last January. Gelhardt was brought in to tandem with Stewart and might have been an appropriate foil for the Scotsman had they been able to share the field together. Instead, the Leeds striker was handed the burden of Sunderland’s goalscoring in the second half of last season in a role he may not overly have been suited to, at least as a lone striker.

Although Sunderland were able to sneak into the play-offs on the final day of the Championship season, a striker was always the main priority for the club’s recruitment team last summer. In response, Kristjaan Speakman brought in four strikers during the summer transfer window with Luis Semedo from Benfica’s B team, Mason Burstow on loan from Chelsea, Eliezer Mayenda from French side FC Sochaux and Ukrainian Rusyn from Zorya Luhansk. It has taken just over half of the season for one of those four to find the back of the net.

Previous head coach, Tony Mowbray, shuffled his quartet of strikers in the opening months of the season to no avail – Chelsea’s Burstow handed the most opportunities with eight starts by Mowbray, whilst 20-year-old Portuguese, Semedo, has made the most appearances of the four recruits with 13, despite all but one of those coming from the bench. Mayenda’s arrival on Wearside was followed by an injury which kept him out of action for the opening months of the campaign while Rusyn, at 25, represented the most ready-made option for Sunderland – as well as being the most costly with the club believed to have paid a seven-figure fee.

And yet no matter what combination Sunderland have tried for the most part of the season, goals and strikers have not aligned. It has led not only to Mowbray opting against fielding an out-and-out forward, but successors Mike Dodds and now Michael Beale in their short periods to date with the likes of Bradley Dack, Jobe Bellingham, Jack Clarke and Adil Aouchiche handed starting berths through the middle of Sunderland’s attack.

In turn, that has led to frustration from all angles on Wearside, inside and outside of the building as to what the best policy is if Sunderland are to mount a play-off push. Beale, however, was quick to establish the need for a ‘proper’ centre-forward after his side laboured to a 1-1 draw with Rotherham United during the club’s Christmas period. Beale started with Aouchiche and Jobe in the central attacking areas but it resulted in a toothless opening 45 minutes at the New York Stadium with not one shot on target.

“It was clear in the game away at Rotherham that we were not going to score unless we had a centre-forward on the pitch,” said Beale. “We gave Mason a go there, and young Eli had a go against Coventry but he’s so young. Then Naz has had his opportunity.

“I just really like Naz’ work ethic. If the goals aren’t going in, is he contributing to the greater game for the team? And I think he did [against Preston].”

It’s true, Rusyn’s inclusion on New Year’s Day gave a greater balance to Sunderland’s approach. With Alex Pritchard, Jobe and Clarke in behind the Ukrainian, Sunderland were able to vary their attacks with somebody to play into in the forward areas, or at least threaten to, with Rusyn’s presence occupying Preston’s centre-back pairing of Jordan Storey and Liam Lindsay.

In terms of an on-the-ball presence, Rusyn did not have much involvement with just 16 total successful actions. But the areas in which those actions took place are why Sunderland enjoyed freedom elsewhere on the pitch. Beale’s side had 18 positional attacks throughout the game, the lowest by some margin in his four league games in charge, but they were balanced from left (7), central (5), right (6) with 94 per cent of the xG from those attacks coming from the five central attacks. It meant there wasn’t as much onus on Clarke as the play was spread around. Clarke has so often been the go-to man for Sunderland this season whereby if teams have been able to figure out a way to stop him, they have stopped Sunderland in the process.

That said, Clarke was instrumental in the goal for Rusyn as the winger, again, demonstrated why he is destined for the Premier League with a fabulous solo run on the counter-attack. But within that, Rusyn also plays a vital role in allowing Clarke the space to do what he does before he then finishes it off.

To break the goal down we actually have to go back to Liam Millar in possession of the ball for Preston on the right of Sunderland’s defensive third. At 1-0 down following an excellent strike from Pritchard, Ryan Lowe’s side were finishing the first half relatively strongly with a series of attacks and you can tell they were beginning to grow in confidence by the sheer volume of bodies they have committed forward. As Millar looks to make his way to the edge of the area there are seven yellow shirts in attack, matched up by seven Sunderland players in defence in a congested penalty area.

It lends itself to a counter-attack as can be seen when Anthony Patterson eventually gathers Millar’s cross. Patterson is not the only one alert to the situation as you can see Dan Neil gesticulating towards Patterson to quickly distribute the ball out to Clarke.

Patterson’s quick throw is perfectly weighted to Clarke who can take it in his stride and already create a three-against-three scenario, despite being midway inside his own half. Jobe still has a little ground to cover, but his position ahead of the Preston attackers who had committed into Sunderland’s box means he is a threat in the initial phase of this attack.

With grass to run into in front of him, Clarke is a clear danger to Preston which is why both Ali McCann and Storey look to confront him. McCann is first to try as he cynically tries to bring Clarke down on the halfway line. But it’s Clarke’s determination then which leads to this goal. Clarke could have taken the foul, seen McCann’s name go into the book, and settle things down into the final minute of the first half and take the 1-0 lead at half-time. Instead, he rode the challenge to set up a two-against-two.

This is where Rusyn becomes active and shows what Sunderland have missed this season. As you can see, Rusyn does not take his eyes off Clarke, all the while maintaining his own spatial awareness just off of Lindsay who he had already seen booked after a strong driving run at the defender just minutes earlier.

With Clarke beyond McCann, Storey has to come out to engage with the winger and with Rusyn still off the shoulder of Lindsay, as the two keep pace alongside Clarke and Storey, it creates a significant gap in the No.10 space where Jobe is looking to drive into. As you can see, Jobe is just about ahead in the race with four Preston players to try and occupy that space to offer Clarke another option.

To their credit, Ben Whiteman and Andrew Hughes get back well in front of Jobe to close out that space as Clarke looks to square Storey up on the edge of the area. Rusyn, meanwhile, has maintained the same distance from Lindsay and has put the centre-back in a dangerous position whereby he has to make a choice whether to go and offer his help to Storey up against Clarke or leave that space for Clarke to potentially run into by monitoring Rusyn.

As Clarke takes Storey down the line he now only has two options as you can see both Whiteman and Hughes have closed off the space for Jobe, who is shortening his stride by this stage. The options for Clarke, then, are to either go it alone from a tight angle or cross into an area for Rusyn. Lindsay has managed the situation reasonably well by this point as well but it is here where we see the real striker’s instinct that has been lacking. As soon as Clarke has created that half a yard ahead of Storey, Rusyn has put the accelerator down to run in front and get across Lindsay at the front post.

As you can see when Clarke is making contact to cross, Rusyn is on his toes and already just about level with Lindsay, with momentum on his side, while the defender is on his heels. Interestingly, goalkeeper Freddie Woodman has created a very narrow angle, perhaps in anticipation of Clarke going for goal himself, which leaves a big gap for Rusyn to guide the ball into.

Rusyn is then ahead of Lindsay and it is just a matter of whether he can provide the finish, which he does so with his only touch inside the penalty area like a striker full of confidence, as opposed to one without a goal all season. The Ukrainian took the applause of the Roker End and that of his team-mates – captain Luke O’Nien making sure Rusyn took the acclaim in full, while Clarke then gestured back to his goalkeeper, Patterson, who started what was a brilliant counter-attacking goal to end what has been a painstaking drought for Sunderland in terms of a striker scoring a goal.

It hasn’t been easy for any of Sunderland’s four summer recruits given their age, experience and the language barrier in the North East. But for Rusyn there have been even bigger hurdles to negotiate given what continues to happen in his homeland and the revelation he remains without his family on Wearside – something which perhaps puts into perspective why he has been phased into the first-team environment despite being considered more ready-made at 25.

“I spoke with Naz and he’s working really hard on his English but to be fair after two or three sentences we didn’t have much to say to each other,” head coach Beale revealed.

“The fans will love a centre-forward that runs around and works for the team. He earned his goal, it was a really good finish. It was a great run from Jack – fantastic from him to ride the two tackles on the way. But it’s difficult for him as well, his wife and children are not here. That must be really hard for him, especially at this time of the year as well.

“There’s everything that’s going on back at home. He’s been here six months and he’s on his third coach, that must not be easy for him either. So for him to score I’m absolutely delighted for him and that’s what should be the headline.

“I think you can transfer talent but I think we have to understand why someone is so comfortable in the environment that they’re in and what makes someone themselves and often we can make a snap judgement as fans, followers of the game, as coaches and when we bring players in from the outside we have to do a lot to help them settle.

“That goal will do him the world of good. Just to receive the standing ovation from the fans when he came off as well and to score a goal in an important home win – what a way for him to start the year.”

Sunderland midfielder, Neil, added: “I’m absolutely over the moon for Naz. As a squad, we all wanted a striker to get off the mark and he’s done that.

“He’s quiet because he doesn’t really know the language yet. I’m sure he’s working on that but when he starts in the starting line-up, like he has this week, we’re in conversations with him. We’re always trying to speak with him and hopefully that goal helps breathe a new confidence into him. Hopefully he can keep firing them in for us.”