Graphic reveals full extent of Sunderland tactical horror show at Huddersfield

Just how bad was Sunderland's tactical set-up against Huddersfield? A worrying graphic has revealed all.

The tactical horror show from Sunderland at Huddersfield has been laid bare by a quite extraordinary graphic on twitter.

The excellent SAFC Data Analytics account posted an image showing the average positions of the starting line-up at The John Smith’s Stadium, and it really is difficult to identify any credible tactical plan from it.

It shows no one all patrolling the righthand side (although Hume was switched to left-back for the last half hour so that explains his odd position), and the entire midfield so close together that you could throw a blanket over them.

After the game, Michael Beale did try to explain the plan, saying it was all about trying to get an extra man into midfield to counter Huddersfield’s man-marking system.

However, that probably just ended up playing straight into the Terriers hands as it compressed the game and ended up with Sunderland just denying themselves space.

“We know they go man for man in midfield, so we tried to put an extra one in there," Beale said.

"We tried to play Pierre [Ekwah] and Jobe high, and Abdoullah [Ba] in behind, and we had moments, but we flipped it over.

“I thought there were times in the first half where we were wasteful, where we broke free and could have got the ball to Jack or Naz earlier, down the sides.

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“When we did get down the side in the first half, some of our quality wasn’t good enough.”

Beale’s tactical plans are certainly tough to understand at times. Often they have the look of someone who is overthinking things and trying to reinvent the game.

If you’re doing that, you really need to be winning, or at least putting in a good performance, but the showing at Huddersfield was arguably the Black Cats’ poorest of the season so far. 

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