Super-subs for Sunderland as Isidor downs Fulham

A 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light keeps Fulham’s league campaign pointless

Alvaro Arbeloa will not have a Premier League win just yet, as Regis Le Bris’ Sunderland side have beaten Fulham with a well-fought 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light. It was a typically Fulhamish performance this afternoon, as Fulham couldn’t capitalise when on top of the game and fell victim to a fine counter-attack by the hosts, spearheaded by substitutes Habib Diarra and goalscorer Wilson Isidor. It’s early days yet, but there is work to be done for our new manager in the early weeks of this new campaign.

First Half

Sunderland were one of the surprise packages of the 2025-26 season, ignoring recent travails for promoted clubs and claiming a 7th place finish, earning themselves a European adventure in the process. This recent success perhaps informed Arbeloa’s tactics today, Fulham allowing Sunderland time on the ball without the ferocity of their press from the Chelsea game. Our hosts enjoyed the early minutes, Xhaka and Sadiki gifted more time to architect passes from midfield, and their crossfield balls might have given them the lead; a ball from the Swiss captain to Meunier was played across the box, needing more than an in-field Hume’s mistimed swipe to amount to something. Similar was found moments later, as a Sadiki ball to Le Fee was taken smartly by the playmaker, nipping into the box away from Andersen, but his shot was driven wide of the near post.

These early wobbles passed however, and Fulham managed to stub the route into the box. Though Sunderland had more of the ball in the first spell of the game, our defensive security made it tough to unlock space around our final third. There were physical contests around the pitch, a few bringing free-kicks for Sunderland on the flanks, but Bassey and Andersen repelled the balls delivered, and Sunderland’s accuracy failed them too frequently to sustain serious pressure.

Ideally this would transition into a period of Fulham ascendency, the team draining Sunderland’s initial burst of creativity and picking them off with some clinical play. We did the first part nicely, prizing the ball off Sunderland with some industriousness around the pitch and crafting our own chances, but a killer touch couldn’t be found. Bobb continued working nicely with Castagne and King along the right, Palacios’s speed won territory in quick strides and the play was sharp in general, yet at the moment of delivery Fulham’s familiar struggles resurfaced. Iwobi wasted a free kick won by Castagne from a clumsy Ballard by lifting it far too deep into the pitch - his pass to King a few minutes later was far nicer, capitalising on a placid Sunderland midfield and lifting the ball over the backline. King collected the ball well ahead of Reinildo moving diagonally from the right, but as Roefs stormed off his line an awkward shot from his left flew just over the crossbar.

It seemed to jee up the home-crowd, and kick Sunderland back into life. Their backline stepped forward, Ballard and Mukiele entering Fulham’s half to quash our comfort in the half. Whilst our shape was good, and the defending in the box tight, our avenues of play were neutralised - the space between our team and the Sunderland goal widened, ramping up the pressure on Fulham on the ball, perhaps evidenced by a rushed Iwobi clearance in possession and Garcia failing to find King for a potentially lethal counter-attack.

Regardless, the Sunderland pressure couldn’t connect to anything substantial. Le Fee, frustrated perhaps at the volume of bodies around the box, took a hopeful shot from midfield that bounced aimlessly wide. Reinildo did well to liberate Angulo along the wings, earning a yellow card for Andersen at one point - the resulting free kick and corner required Leno’s intervention, but never came close to reaching a Sunderland head. Towards the end of the half we might have found a late opener - working smartly with Bassey, Robinson played a forward ball along the touchline to Garcia, who skilfully turned Mukiele and travelled into exposed Sunderland territory. He played it through to King, seemingly through on goal… only for Reinildo to sweep across, covering his teammates’ blushes with a confident dispossession of our young starlet. Though an offside would have chalked it off, the move summed up the half’s theme of defensive strength.

Second Half

Could the game find a sharper edge in the second half? Angulo’s pace continued to show promise, beating Castagne for pace along the flank early on, but Sadiki’s eventual cross was too high and Hume and Le Fee’s combination on the other side couldn’t shake the solid blocking of Bassey. A higher tempo seemed to be on the cards, Sunderland putting themselves around our half with more vigour, and Fulham’s passing in response appeared to take a faster pace, King and Palacios moving deeper to connect passes and play through Sunderland’s ranks.

Berge was playing well, moving dynamically and in sync to the Sunderland challenge. He was key in our best move in the early stages - a pass from Leno in his box was moved to him smartly by King, letting the Norwegian drive at Sunderland territory. He smashed it through to Garcia, charging into the box - but for a brilliant slide from Mukiele, Fulham might have taken the lead. Castagne rode the energy to dispossess an ambling Sadiki, letting Bobb feed a central Palacios, but the ex-Real man smacked his shot into the stands. Despite our growth in the game our good set-up was being betrayed by tepid decisions in the critical moments - a spat of crosses failed to reach a target, some not even beating the first man, and it let Sunderland rally and recollect their thoughts.

And then… the substitutes. Le Bris went first; Angulo, who’d taken a blow from a late Palacios tackle earlier, and Brobbey swapped for Diarra and Isidor. It gave Sunderland more pep, pouncing on our increasingly languid play and creating nerves with more set-pieces earned along the wings. Arbeloa, in response, removed Castagne and Bobb for Charles and Sessegnon. Marco Silva was often great at influencing a game with his changes, recognising the state of play and tweaking Fulham’s approach to find a goal; Arbeloa’s hope was to do the same, moving Berge deeper to make a trio with the centre-backs, letting Charles get on the ball in midfield and having Sess join Robinson as de-facto wing-backs to push for a winner.

On paper, this was the attacking move to define the game - Arbeloa unleashing our nucleus of talent and putting the sword to Sunderland. But this move exposed our backline, moving bodies away from defence right as Le Bris introduced pace and movement to a Sunderland team well-versed in counter-attacks. Xhaka quickly spotted the weakness and lifted a ball to Le Fee, bolting past an unaware Sessegnon - the Frenchman moved along the left of the box and played it across the box to Isidor, only for the Haiti international to misplace his shot and cannon the ball onto the post. The lessons weren’t learnt, and a smart piece of play along the right produced a similar predicament for Fulham, Sadiki threading a ball through the backline for Diarra to storm into space, leaving Bassey for dust as he reached the edge of the box and played a ball across the box, Isidor easily ahead of Andersen to place the ball into the open net, Leno having attempted a farcical lunge for the ball right before the conversion.

And with Sunderland claiming the lead, Fulham found themselves chasing an equaliser against a side built to defend. A wilting Palacios was hauled for Smith Rowe, trying to use his midweek energy to carve a path back into the game for Fulham. Sessegnon’s speed and attacking flair made for pretty viewing, as he, Charles and King linked together to make nice passes into dangerous areas. Robinson activated his blistering pace as he stormed beyond Hume and Meunier on the flanks and Berge was withdrawn for Kevin’s skills to try and forge and opening. But what did we have to show for it? A deflected shot from Charles that went nowhere near the goal, a Sessegnon shot cutting inside from the right that was also blocked, some corners that travelled straight to Roef and a Garcia header that spun hopelessly wide. Indeed, Sunderland enjoyed the closer chances at the end of the game, enjoying themselves against our tiring defence - Leno’s saves were needed to stop Le Fee and Mundle putting well-crafted crosses into the Fulham net. A Sessegnon cross too deep for anyone in white flew into Roef’s hands, and the game petered out - a second loss of the season was on the cards.

Sunderland, Europe-Bound

Let’s offer a Northern perspective before we dig too far into Fulham. We arrived today coveting Sunderland’s position - our unrealised dreams for years took one campaign for Le Bris’ team to make into reality. They’ve managed themselves extremely well - in their team exist numerous international players, substantial depth in Premier League experience and a well-balanced palette of pace, strength and technical ability. It’s quite remarkable how astute Sunderland’s signings have been - to collect a player like Granit Xhaka is a massive coup in itself, but the majority of their starting XI has been signed in the previous two seasons, many from very reputable clubs, all fitting the ethos of the team and each critical across the departments needed to win a game.

The defence is the obvious selling point - Roefs is a titan in goal, Reinildo is versatile enough to play as left-back and cover attack and defence, Mukiele is a smooth operator to place alongside the gritty Ballard and Meunier offers a composed face at right-back. You have Sadiki prowling around in front of them, paired with the wise head of Granit Xhaka, and forwards willing to put themselves about to win the ball back and press.

It’s a stupendous base to work from, frustrating opponents and making the Stadium of Light a fortress, and it allows them to get the best out of their attacking components. Again, Xhaka stands out here, and for good reason - the man is a brilliant figure to architect an attack from deep. But Le Fee is a maestro, moving across the attack to pocket the ball and weave danger into the action, and with willing attackers around him the magic is only a few passes away. Brobbey didn’t quite get the chances today but Isidor and Diarra tipped the game Sunderland’s way, and in the end Sunderland might have won by more than the goal that they did. Fulham were out-manoeuvred in the end - Sunderland were deserving victors in the game, and will certainly enjoy themselves across the continent this season.

Arb

But let’s turn the gaze to Arbeloa’s side. Fulham did not have Sanchez gifting goals to us this week and the press was not as relentless as it was against Chelsea, so we would need fine-tuning to make the difference against a tough Sunderland outfit. We struggled to find our zone, never quite finding the sharpest tool to take to the opposition, and Sunderland were all too happy to let us dither and waste our own attacks on mediocre decisions in the final third. Many of our closest moments were deterred by individual pieces of brilliance by the likes of Mukiele and Reinildo, but the average attack was stopped by our passing sequence faltering, reaching a sea of bodies and smacking a poorly-taken cross into a defender. The wingplay wasn’t good enough - a first half with decent patches turned into a deeply underwhelming slog for Bobb and Palacios, whose radars failed them when trying to connect passes in the deeper areas. Robinson and Castagne/Sess operated much more effectively from the same position, though still below the standard required to crack the opposition.

It was always going to be tricky for Garcia today - he had two massive centre-backs to contend with, and his teammates couldn’t ping a ball into him. He couldn’t pull the trigger quick enough when Berge played him through in the second half, and he had more success dropping deeper as he showed in the first, but I don’t feel he can be the target of our ire today. The same is true of his Norwegian teammate - Berge did quite well in the circumstances, and had a lot of life around the pitch. My concern currently lies with Iwobi - he seems to float between positions in this team, removed from the action but not performing the defensive duties to the diligence needed to sit in front of the defence. With Charles on the pitch he seemed relegated to set-piece taker, which he also struggled with today - perhaps a role further forward is needed again to get the best out of him.

Our defensive performance was more frustrating than last week. Chelsea were likely to rack up the goals last week, but a strong start at back morphed into the familiar messes Fulham found themselves in, and Leno might consider himself fortunate to only have the one goal past him. Andersen seemed keen to remind Arbeloa of his own talents, emulating Cuenca’s aerial balls from deep and fighting Brobbey’s attacking moves valiantly with his own build for much of the game. He also reminded us of his limitations, being utterly outmatched by Isidor when he arrived and playing far too slowly to trouble the Sunderland backline, particularly once they’d established the lead. You watch Bassey’s efforts next to him and it’s quite clear there’s a drop in effectiveness, one any forward with a touch of pace can exploit. It’s not fair to blame him alone - the full-backs were caught out on a few occasions and Leno will watch back his antics for the goal and wonder what his movement was supposed to achieve - but Cuenca and even De Fougerolles will watch games like today and wonder how secure the Dane’s starting place is in this team.

What’s the upshot, then? Fulham were decent in spells, the attacking nucleus King wants to be core to looks promising and there’s a lot of positivity around the squad right now, but the result was a 1-0 defeat, and we don’t have any points after two games. Given the reactionary nature of football, the psychological impact of a zero next to your name and the competitive feeling around the division right now, Arbeloa will want to rectify our current standing as quickly as he can. Be it through stern words in the dressing room or lavishing the side with a couple of reinforcements, Crystal Palace at home represents a huge opportunity for the team to pick up their first points of the campaign - should games drift the way of Sunderland today, more disappointment may yet be had.