As full debuts go, they don't get much bigger than starting for Sunderland away at Championship title chasing Leeds United.
Red and white supporters have had to wait until the 42nd round of fixtures to see Timothee Pemeble start for the Black Cats, deployed on the right of a back five against Daniel Farke's imperious Leeds side.
The Frenchman has been a regular for Sunderland's Under-21s since returning from a knee injury that delayed his start to life on Wearside, and has featured sparingly from the bench for the first-team. His last outing arriving in Michael Beale's penultimate game in charge in the away defeat to Huddersfield Town. An evening where the former PSG trainee looked a little out of his depth.
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We've not seen much of Pembele since his summer move, just six appearances in the senior set-up, dropping down to the Under-21s after the defeat against the Terriers, the Frenchman has continued to adapt to the English game, but he hasn't exactly set the world alight.
A glance back to the young Black Cats' 3-2 defeat to Newcastle United U21s, where he played on the right of a back four - in a side that contained a number of first-team players - falling over his own feet when the ball was played out to him in his first action of the game, making a mess of a simple pass. Not the greatest impression.
But, that being said, he did recover and showcase his pace and trickery down that right-hand side of the pitch causing problems for the Magpies, but his attacking intent meant he was often caught out defensively.
So when interim boss Mike Dodds revealed his teamsheet at Elland Road, I for one, was concerned about Pembele's inclusion over on that right-hand side of the pitch. After all, he was coming up against one of the division's most potent attacking players in Cyrsencio Summerville, who had 17 goals and eight assists in 38 second-tier appearances prior to kick-off.
But as the half-time whistle blew, any sense of dread had emancipated with Pemebele playing a key role in Dodds' tactical masterclass. When he was replaced after 69 minutes, the 2,900 travelling faithful gave him a standing ovation.
The side of the circles indicates how often players made a pass, with Sunderland forcing Leeds to play it around the back with Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu - something which frustrated the home crowd throughout the night.
Georginio Rutter and the aforementioned Summerville dropped deep in the first-half, which saw Sunderland's two wide centre-backs; Luke O'Nien and Trai Hume track them into central areas, with the Black Cats' wing-backs then tucking in.
The job of tracking Summerville fell to Hume, which allowed Pemebele to track the runs of the attack minded Junior Firpo.
However, as we see from the average positioning above, the back five handed the Wearsiders an opportunity to capitalise on how high Leeds' full-backs operate, with Pemeble getting into dangerous areas of the pitch.
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“We did a lot of work over the two days with Timmy,” Dodds said post-match. “We wanted to make sure he was really clear in terms of the angles and distances we wanted, and I felt he executed that really well.
“I think the shape change helps Timmy, I’ll be really honest with you. When we change to that shape, I think it suits Timmy, and I’ve really been waiting to move to that shape, to give him the opportunity, because I think that’s probably his best position.
“It wasn’t just Timmy though, I felt there were a lot of really professional performances out of possession. If we can get the in-possession stuff right now, then I think we can be a really strong team, regardless of age or inexperience or anything else.”
The 21-year-old played one key pass and finished the night with an expected assist of 0.18, according to StatsBomb, the highest of any Sunderland player on the pitch. He brought an On Ball Value of 0.11, the fifth highest of any red and white player.
The following video below is a quick explainer of how OBV is calculated.
Pembele completed 11 pressures out on that right-flank, leaving Trai Hume, operating on the right of the three centre-halves, to press Summerville when the ball went into Leeds' dangerman.
When Summerville did drop deeper, Chris Rigg dropped onto the toes of the Dutchman to press, again, leaving Pembele to focus on Firpo.
On the image below, Pembele reacts well to a ball played into Firpo from Ampadu, closing down the space, just as Dodds eluded to in his post-match press conference. Hume is right behind him tracking the run of Summerville, and it's something Sunderland worked well all night.
On this occasion, Pemebele gets a tackle in but the ball goes out for a Leeds throw in. As previously mentioned, the Black Cats were more than happy to let Leeds United's two centre-halves have the ball, triggering their press when the ball went into wide areas of the pitch.
Again on the image below, which was only minutes later in the game, we see Pembele react quickly to the ball going into the feet of Firpo. Summerville makes a run off the ball out of picture behind the Sunderland wing-back, but he quickly gets a block in to stop Leeds playing down the wing.
In possession, Pembele created probably Sunderland's best opportunity of the game with a delightful first time cross for Jack Clarke - the 0.18 xA mentioned earlier.
Chris Rigg does well in the initial phase to draw the attention of Firpo and create space for Pembele out wide. His pass to the wing-back is the perfect weight, allowing the Frenchman to fizz the ball into the area first time.
There were a number of occasions, similar to the one above, where Pembele found himself in space on the right. But, in this instance, his cross was just too high for Clarke, and had too much on it.
The opportunity above was Sunderland's best of the evening in terms of xG, registering at 0.18 of their 0.35 overall.
Dodds' side had three shorts on target overall, but it was the hosts who boasted the higher xG from their only effort on target, ending the night with an xG of 0.57.
Recommended reading:
The xG from both sides tells the story of a cagey affair, but one that should give Sunderland heart heading into their final few games.
After all, there was no sign of players being on the beach, even if there were fears of that creeping in against Blackburn Rovers.
An impressive first start for Pembele and he looks suited to playing the role of right-wing back in a back five, but like the rest of his red and white teammates, the display at Elland Road has to be a platform to end the season strongly.
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