Analysing Sunderland's tactical approach against Newcastle

Sunderland were barely able to land a glove on the Premier League side as Eddie Howe’s Magpies rolled into Wearside for the first time since 2015 and came away with what turned out to be a comfortable passage into the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Having taken seven points from a possible nine over the Christmas period heading into the tie, there was cause for small optimism – particularly given the run of form Newcastle had found themselves in over the course of December since the draw was made.

From the off, however, the chasm between the two sides was evident as Newcastle dominated proceedings with over 70 per cent of the possession in the first half – Sunderland without a single effort on target. Alexander Isak’s presence forced Sunderland defender Dan Ballard into an own goal to separate the two teams at the break before an error from Pierre Ekwah within seconds of the restart allowed Miguel Almiron to tee up Isak who doubled the visitors’ lead.

But for two decent strikes from Alex Pritchard, one which skimmed the top of Martin Dubravka’s bar, the other forcing the Slovakian into a smart save low to his right, and a deflected Ekwah strike, Sunderland offered very little resistance to Newcastle before a third and final knockout blow was landed in stoppage time when Sweden international Isak doubled his tally for the day from the penalty spot after Ballard had taken down Anthony Gordon in a rash challenge through sheer frustration.

But how did this game escape Sunderland so much?

Beale spoke about the difference in quality between the two teams after the game, having presented this fixture as an opportunity for his young squad to go and express themselves and demonstrate why a number of his players are on the Premier League periphery. In the end, however, it was a display which left several wondering how big the gap to the Premier League might just be as Newcastle eased to a first derby victory since 2011.

“It was a tough afternoon for us,” said the Sunderland head coach. “I thought in the first half, for the most part, we defended okay. In terms of in possession we weren't tidy enough. We didn’t show enough quality to throw any punches at Newcastle really.

“We go in at half-time and we talk about being bolder, we made a couple of changes to get people further up the pitch and get the back four higher, obviously we have the worst possible start to the second half, that’s clear for everyone to see. After that, I thought we actually started getting into some interesting areas. Pritch hits the bar and the goalkeeper makes a fantastic save down to his right. If we’d scored in that moment I think the fans would have done the rest for us.

“Let’s be honest, there was a gap between the two teams when we arrived at the stadium today and at the end of the day, we’ve tried to close that gap over 90 minutes and we weren’t able to do that.

“A lot has been spoken about them [Newcastle], but they are a team that’s beaten PSG for four and Chelsea in the not so recent past. They’ve had experience and a level of football much higher than ours. We went out with the right intention, but their quality, expertise and experience - they were a clear winner on the day.”

Beale was right to suggest Newcastle were clear winners – both on the scoreboard and statistically, something which will frustrate Sunderland supporters. The gap between the two sides was evident but the feeling that Sunderland did not have enough of a ‘go’ at Newcastle is what the overriding emotion has become and a lot of that may be down to how Beale set his team out.

Against Hull City of Boxing Day, Beale made a system change which helped stymie Hull as they were unable to play through the middle of the field with Sunderland quickly forming a front four out of possession to negate Hull’s defenders in possession. Beale adapted for the visit of Preston North End with the return of Pritchard and Nazariy Rusyn with a 4-2-3-1 set-up providing a nice balance to the squad in what turned into a pretty comfortable afternoon on New Year’s Day.

This, however, was always going to be difficult given how Newcastle have tended to approach games under Howe with their high pressing philosophy and pace in transition. Howe brought Almiron back into his starting line-up which dropped Joelinton back into a midfield three – Almiron joining Isak and Gordon in what was a blistering attack in terms of pace for Sunderland to deal with.

It was clear that Beale had instructed his players to try and contain Newcastle, given their shape and the amount of numbers they had behind the ball. But Sunderland did not help themselves in that situation either.

Immediately from their kick-off, they gave possession away when Dan Neil’s simple five-yard pass to Jobe Bellingham, just the third pass of the game, went astray. Newcastle recycled the ball around their defence under little pressure before Fabian Schar was allowed to make a speculative cross-field pass into Gordon who had already created plenty of space for himself away from Trai Hume.

Sunderland were quick to drop back into a defensive set-up from Newcastle's first attack (above) but Kieran Trippier and Miguel Almiron still posed a threat on the right (below) (Image: Wyscout)

As you can see in image one, Gordon was allowed to drift in-field where Sunderland had already reset into having almost nine players behind the ball, with Jobe tracking back and Aji Alese out of shot. Gordon was able to work the ball over to Almiron who had Kieran Trippier on the overlap and Newcastle were able to win a corner from Sunderland’s kick-off.

It set the tone immediately as for how the first half, in particular, would play out.

Having used Gordon in their first attack, it was Sunderland’s left-hand-side, and Alese, where Newcastle would target for the majority of the opening stages of the first half as can be seen in the second image with Trippier and Almiron working a crossing angle as Trippier picked out Sean Longstaff, who had peeled off the back of Neil, for the first effort of the game when his header was scrambled clear by Anthony Patterson.

Sunderland were set-up very narrow which allowed Newcastle to exploit space down either flank (above). Sunderland continued to allow Newcastle to dominate with forward Nazariy Rusyn even dropping deep into his own half with Sunderland having all 10 outfield players almost behind the ball (below) (Image: Wyscout)

Sunderland became so narrow in their low-block that it allowed too much space for Newcastle on the wings as you can see above with their back four and the five in midfield ahead of them. It invited Newcastle to dominate the possession as their centre-backs, including Schar, who is on the ball in picture four, to advance deep into the Sunderland half. In this example, Rusyn is even dropping back to help out which means all 10 of Sunderland’s outfield players are deep inside their own half. There was simply no outlet for them when they were able to clear their lines.

Again, with Sunderland being as narrow as they were, it allowed Almiron and Trippier plenty of space to overload on the right – the pair were the most effective on the field combining more than anyone else with 17 passing combinations of over three passes in one direction.

Pass maps for Sunderland (left) and Newcastle (right) showing combinations with more than three passes in one direction. Kieran Trippier and Miguel Almiron were the most effective partnership with 17 combinations (Image: Wyscout)

Sunderland were vulnerable to the threat from Newcastle's right (Image: Wyscout)

Newcastle had 20 of their 43 attacks down that side of the field and the picture below shows how Jack Clarke remains compact in a midfield five, which leaves Alese in a two-against-one with the Newcastle duo. On the occasions Clarke did get back to help Alese, Trippier’s quality was still on show as he created another chance for Longstaff at the front post after finding space between Ballard and Neil.

Aji Alese was sometimes left in a two-against-one scenario with Jack Clarke sitting narrow to pack out the midfield (above). On the occasions Clarke was able to help Alese, Sunderland were still vulnerable to Kieran Trippier's quality (below) (Image: Wyscout)

On the rare occasions Sunderland did advance into Newcastle’s half, because they had been so deep, there were limited options available. Clarke saw his first real passage of play when skipping by Trippier only to turn back on himself with no passing angles in front of him. This led to a turnover in possession by Almiron who quickly released Isak in on goal where he was sent tumbling by Ballard.

It was a let off for Sunderland but summed up how the game had started.

Sunderland rarely had an outlet when they did advance forward with Jack Clarke dispossessed (above) and Newcastle almost benefitting before Eddie Howe's side switched to attack Sunderland's right (Image: Wyscout)

Having tested Sunderland’s resolve down the right, Newcastle then switched to attack down the opposite flank with Gordon up against Hume, as shown in the second image above. Hume had one foray into the Newcastle half early in the game to test Dan Burn but was otherwise locked into the shape set out by Beale for the majority of the half. Given Gordon’s threat, however, Hume was naturally drawn tighter to the former Everton man who was almost positioning himself on the touchline when Newcastle did switch flanks.

That left a gap between Hume and Luke O’Nien as can be seen in the image. Gordon had the pace to get in behind Sunderland’s defence with Longstaff eventually firing over the bar. But it was another warning for Beale and Sunderland who remained rigid in their approach.

Eventually, the pressure told. With Sunderland allowing Newcastle as much territory as they had for the opening 30 minutes, Joelinton was able to operate in a free role for Howe’s side, complementing both the attack and midfield. And for the opening goal it was him switching out wide that undid Sunderland.

Joelinton swapped with Gordon, who cleverly held his run on Ekwah, as Bruno Guimaraes threaded a ball inside of Hume again for Joelinton to run onto. Ekwah had stuck with Gordon long enough to allow Joelinton the space to run into the area which meant O’Nien was forced to come out from his centre-back position. That left Isak and Ballard together in the penalty area and the Brazilian was able to put in an excellent cross, difficult for Ballard to deal with, which ended up in the back of the net.

With Sunderland sitting so deep it allowed Joelinton a free role. He swapped with Anthony Gordon to draw Trai Hume out of position and exchange with Bruno Guimaraes to get in behind the defence (above). Dan Ballard was unfortunate to turn into his own goal from the resulting cross (Image: Wyscout)

The half-time whistle allowed Sunderland the opportunity to regroup and Beale the chance to tweak his approach to the game with Sunderland rarely involved. Clarke, their talisman, had barely scraped into double digits as far as his touches in the first half were concerned.

For large periods of the half, Newcastle’s high pressing had caused problems. Patterson was forced to kick long a number of times with Gordon, Isak and Almiron sat on Sunderland’s 18-yard line. Those direct goal kicks came straight back at Sunderland with both Schar and Sven Botman gobbling everything up over Rusyn.

It posed a difficult question to Beale in how he could beat the first line of Newcastle’s press without giving up possession as cheaply to their centre-backs. Beale was keen to ensure his side continued their philosophy in the Championship in playing out from the back which caught them out and killed the game within a minute of the restart.

Howe’s side picked up where the left off in the second half as you can see by the number of bodies pressing Sunderland, led by Isak and Almiron. Those two forced Ekwah into a mistake when he made a huge error in trying to turn inside his own penalty area which allowed Almiron to pinch the ball away from him and set up Isak for a simple finish.

Sunderland played themselves into trouble immediately in the second half as Pierre Ekwah lost possession inside his own penalty area for Alexander Isak to score. Newcastle continued their high press in the second half. (Image: Wyscout)

Beale still did not adapt the approach, however, as Newcastle continuously forced Sunderland almost onto their own goalline at times with the image above also showing as many as eight Newcastle players in Sunderland’s final third as they won back possession.

Even with the game won, Sunderland were still too sluggish in possession as it was another error which led to the penalty for Newcastle’s third. Isak and Almiron, like they had done with Ekwah, closed down Clarke and forced a turnover and as soon as Isak had possession when escaping O’Nien’s lunging tackle, Sunderland were outnumbered defensively with Gordon’s pace on the left the decisive factor.

Jack Clarke was forced into an error with a misplaced header and Newcastle were able to break on Sunderland (Image: Wyscout)

Sunderland have received plenty of plaudits for their style of play since their return to the Championship, whether under Alex Neil or Tony Mowbray. Beale’s tactical switches against both Hull and Preston suggest he may be capable of adapting to the requirements in the league, but here the approach seemed to play into Newcastle’s hands.

Sunderland recorded just six attempts at goal, their lowest since the goalless draw with Burnley last March and attempted their fewest number of passes in a game (298) since the 5-0 win over Southampton (247). At 39.96 per cent it was one of their lowest possession totals of the season – they recorded a lower possession percentage against Leeds United but were able to offer more of an attacking threat in that game on the counter-attack.

But Sunderland’s attacking output can be summarised in further data. For example, at 44.16 per cent it was the lowest number of duels they have won in a game since the goalless draw with Coventry City in August. Of those duels, just 60 were quantified as ‘offensive duels’ which is the lowest number since the draw at Turf Moor last season – they won 21 of those duels on each occasion.

On average, Sunderland registered just 3.35 passes per possession. Only the win over Southampton did they record fewer where they were instructed to play on the counter-attack against Russell Martin’s side. Their xG (expected goals) total of 0.22 is their lowest since, again, that draw with Burnley, whilst the xGA (expected goals against) total of 1.82 is the highest given up this season outside of the defeat to Middlesbrough (2.94) who enjoyed the luxury of an entire 45 minutes against 10 men at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland’s only efforts at goal came in the second half but all three were from distance, with their average shot distance being recorded at 27.04 – their highest total on record over the course of the last 12 months.

Sunderland recorded a number of low metrics in their defeat to Newcastle United (Wyscout) (Image: Wyscout)

Given their success against Leeds under interim boss Mike Dodds, and at Hull under Beale, Sunderland naturally felt as though the best way to approach this game was to try and sit in and frustrate Newcastle. But, given the level of quality Howe has at his disposal, it was always going to be a much tougher ask than those two fixtures.

With this being a derby, Sunderland may have been better trying to turn the game into more of a battle for Newcastle rather than allow them to dominate the possession as they ultimately fell short throughout.