The Black Cats thrashed South Shields at the 1st Cloud Arena with plenty of first-team interest and food for thought for new head coach Régis Le Bris to mull over.
Sunderland’s new head coach took charge of his first game since his summer arrival from French club Lorient with the Black Cats 5-0 up by half-time with a poor South Shields side providing little resistance. The scores stayed the same in the second half despite multiple changes for both sides.
Here, we take a look at how James Copley rated Sunderland’s players against South Shields:
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1. Blondy Nna Noukeu
Hardly had anything to do in the first half and barely touched the ball. Looks physically imposing but really hard to make a judgement from that performance. Misplaced the odd kick in the second half but his distribution recovered and he played some decent balls Was called into action in the second half once or twice but coped well. 7 | Getty Images
2. Trai Hume
Defensively sound as always and scored Sunderland’s second goal with a deflected finish. 8 Photo: Frank Reid
3. Dan Ballard
Played 45 minutes before being replaced by Ben Crompton for the second half. Sunderland kept a clean sheet when Ballard was on the pitch and he looked his usual assured self. 7 Photo: Frank Reid
4. Leo Hjelde
Looked pretty solid but Sunderland were barely put under any pressure during the game. Looks better at centre-back than he does left-back. Will be interesting to see where he ends up playing most this season. 7 Photo: Frank Reid