Simon Adingra (£5.5m) bagged his first Sunderland goal and Crystal Palace were involved in two hour-long games as the pre-season friendlies continued on Tuesday.
Piece by piece, we’re putting together a picture of every side as these warm-up matches continue.
Here’s what we saw in the latest kickabouts.
CRYSTAL PALACE 1-1 MAINZ
CRYSTAL PALACE 2-3 MAINZ
- Goals: Mateta | Esse, Lacroix
- Assists: Sarr | Edouard, Sosa
Oliver Glasner split his squad across two 60-minute friendlies against Mainz in Austria.
The first XI sent out had a first-team feel about it, apart from the back three.
For the second friendly running, the Ismaila Sarr (£6.5m) and Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.5m) combo produced a goal.
It looked like the chance had gone when Sarr rounded the Mainz ‘keeper and was twice repelled but the winger had the composure to pick out Mateta, who stroked in, via a deflection, his second goal of pre-season.
Dean Henderson (£5.0m) was busy in the first game, making a string of fine stops to keep Mainz at bay. Even he couldn’t prevent a late leveller, which in itself was a rebound after another Henderson save.
Perhaps it was no surprise that he was getting his gloves muddied. The back three was composed of a midfielder Jefferson Lerma (£5.0m), youngster Mofe Jemide and a rusty-looking Chris Richards (£4.5m), who was making his first appearance of the summer. Daniel Munoz (£5.5m), himself late back after international commitments, looked a little off the pace, too – but then that’s exactly what these friendlies are for: fitness building.
It was the opposite in the second hour-long game: a mostly second-string side, with regulars Maxence Lacroix (£5.0m) and Marc Guehi (£4.5m) at the rear. Guehi himself was back from a minor injury.
At first glance, Henderson appears not to have much to worry about a wobbly display from Walter Benitez (£4.5m).
The Eagles went 3-0 down before Romain Esse (£5.0m) scored a fine goal to reduce the arrears. Palace’s second goalscorer was a potential Gameweek 1 target: defensive contribution magnet, and underrated set-piece threat, Maxence Lacroix (£5.0m) nodded home a Borna Sosa (£4.5m) free-kick. Sosa’s deliveries really look good but, as we’ve mentioned a few times already this summer, he first has to oust Tyrick Mitchell (£5.0m) at left wing-back.
Crystal Palace first XI v Mainz: Henderson, Richards (Rodney 45), Lerma, Jemide, Muñoz, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell, Sarr, Eze, Mateta.
Crystal Palace second XI v Mainz: BenÃtez, Clyne, Lacroix, Guéhi, Ahamada (Cardines 30), Devenny, Kamada, Sosa, Rak-Sakyi (Rodney 46), Nketiah (Edouard 46), Esse.
HULL CITY 2-1 SUNDERLAND
- Goal: Adingra
- Assist: Talbi
After the initial buzz from their wave of summer signings, there’s perhaps a bit of realism setting in at Sunderland. Pre-season form is to be taken with a pinch of salt but back-to-back defeats to Hull City and Heart of Midlothian, and no wins in four, show there’s still work to be done ahead of the big kick-off.
Regis Le Bris is admittedly hard-hit by several injuries, particularly in defence. New left-back Reinildo (£4.0m) has also yet to make his debut after a post-Club World Cup break. Really, of the goalkeeper and back four on show at Hull, only Dan Ballard (£4.5m) – who shook off a mid-game knock to continue – and Trai Hume (£4.5m) are regulars.
“In an ideal world, you would have everyone in place but it’s never possible. So we manage the situation. For a player like Reinildo for example, with his background and experience, it will be easier for him than a young lad.” – Regis Le Bris
There was some joy further forward, at least, with two summer signings out wide combining for the Mackems’ only goal. Adingra was the scorer, finishing tidily from a Chemsdine Talbi (£5.0m) cut-back.
“We believe that these two wingers will have a huge impact for our game and against the opposition defence, but they need time. To create references, to understand the connection with their team mates. And this is in games as well as an in training.” – Regis Le Bris on Chemsdine Talbi and Simon Adingra
The visitors, encouragingly, had plenty of other openings, too, but the finishing was collectively tame – remember that Sunderland came up from the Championship with a meagre goal tally beaten by eight other second-tier sides.
Eliezer Mayenda (£5.5m) had one of the best openings, firing straight at the hosts’ goalkeeper from wide on the six-yard box. He’s one of the better £5.5m forward options for game-time guarantees, at least initially, but we’ve still got reservations about his goal-getting abilities.
Enzo Le Fee (£5.0m) was still on set plays and had a decent chance of his own but his major contribution in this match was less positive, inadvertently teeing up Hull for their leveller. The Tigers scored on the breakaway to seal the win, two Sunderland defenders being outmuscled in the process. More goals for hosts could have followed.
But facing very different sorts of opposition, including direct, physical types, in pre-season is exactly what Le Bris wants his side to experience before the meaningful stuff commences.
“The pre-season is set to create new habits through different experiences, so we tried to build our game model with new players and we need to live different experiences. This was the case at Hearts and we struggled to deal with direct play, we managed this situation with more efficiency here so we are growing as a team. We need two or three more games to be ready.” – Regis Le Bris
Sunderland XI: Moore; Hume (Tuterov 68), Ballard (Lavery 68), Seelt (J. Jones 68), H. Jones (Huggins 68); Sadiki (Browne 68), Diarra (Neil 68), Le Fée (Roberts 68); Talbi (Aleksic 68), Adingra (Ogunsuyi 68), Mayenda (Abdullahi 68).
