Sunderland were beaten 2-0 by Preston North End on Tuesday night.
Sunderland have been knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the first hurdle, losing 2-0 v Preston North End at Deepdale.
Managerless Preston outclassed a Sunderland side that was completely changed from the 2-0 win vs Cardiff City on the opening day of the 2024/25 Championship season.
Regis Le Bris handed starting spots to several lesser-seen faces with Nazariy Rusyn leading the line but failing to make an impact, and with Abdoullah Ba failing to impress too.
The defence was what struggled the most vs Preston with Le Bris naming four centre-backs across the back-four, starting youngsters Zak Johnson and Joe Anderson on the right and left respectively, then Leo Hjelde and Nectarios Triantis in the middle.
Whenever Preston got forward, Sunderland looked shaky at the back.
There were some good performances, however, with Chris Rigg earning praise along with the likes of Simon Moore and Pierre Ekwah.
But it was the poor individual performances that stood out, with none struggling perhaps as much as Anderson.
Chris Rigg maintained his excellent reputation as he shone at Deepdale, while Romaine Mundle also proved to be a real attacking threat in the first half.
There was a number of players who will have only damaged their chances under Le Bris though, with Ba being the player whose underwhelming performance arguably stood out the most.
Abdoullah Ba underwhelms once again
The Frenchman looked lively in the opening stages, but quickly reverted to his usual issues when he attempted to nod in an absolute sitter before completely missing it.
Ba looked to quickly move on but failed to improve, with his decision-making and final product blatantly still a huge problem from last season.
The winger had fewer touches than goalkeeper Simon Moore (40), succeeded in zero of his dribbles and lost 70% of his duels – as well as missing the biggest chance of the night for Sunderland.
Ba has been scrutinised for his previous performances and it was the same last night, with the Sunderland Echo giving him a five rating, writing: “Some nice moments but the end product was frustrating and lost the ball too often. Missed a free header early on from seven or eight yards out – one he had to score.”
The French winger is not ready for Championship football – and might never be
The 21-year-old showed glimmer of hope last term as he scored three times and provided four assists, but his consistency was a real issue and it doesn’t look like he has made much progression this summer either.
Ba needed to prove himself last night if he was to have any chance against Patrick Roberts and Ian Poveda, but if anything, he has solidified himself at the bottom of the pecking order.
Le Bris was clearly up for giving Ba the opportunity to stake his claim, but he did himself absolutely no favours in Lancashire and it won’t be surprising if we don’t see much of him in the Championship now.
In fact, last night’s display may well have pushed Le Bris to consider a loan exit for him, which seems like the most sensible solution for all parties.
Ba isn’t going to improve without game-time, but it is glaringly obvious that he is miles below the level required at the Stadium of Light.
Give him the chance to shine out on loan and if he comes back making the same mistakes, then perhaps we accept defeat and let him go permanently.
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