Story byDan HarrisonTue, December 2, 2025 at 6:00 AM UTC·8 min readSunderland returned to the Stadium of Light staring down the barrel of a long winter without a win in their previous three games to face a Bournemouth side level on points as they fought it out for fourth place on Saturday afternoon. With torrential conditions afoot once again and a 2-0 deficit within the opening twenty minutes, how did Le Bris galvanise his players to record yet another historic comeback and take all three points?Sunderland Line-UpAfter much debate about whether Sunderland should look to switch away from their more conservative system with three central defenders, Le Bris made a bold call and switched to his traditional 4-3-3 system at the expense of Trai Hume and Lutsharel Geertruida, who both dropped to the bench in favour of Omar Alderete returning from injury and Chemsdine Talbi making his first start since away at the City Ground back in September. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWith a revert to type, Sunderland shuffled Enzo Le Fée back into his preferred position of central midfield ahead of the two pivots of Noah Sadiki and Granit Xhaka, both of whom were still riding the suspension tightrope. Alderete came back in on the left side of the defence to provide some natural width as a left-footer whilst Nordi Mukiele shuffled across to right-back in order to deal with the danger of Antoine Semenyo. With an additional body in midfield Sunderland were able to fall back on their triangle principles and utilise the trios formed between full-back, midfielder, and winger to create overloads and spring attacks with pace whilst Wilson Isidor continued to lead the line. Opposition Line-UpAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMake no mistake, Andoni Iraola is one of the most tactically astute coaches in the Premier League and the work he does to set his sides up to spring opposition presses makes viewing who both managers chose to line up an interesting tactical affair. Iraola made two changes from the side that drew with West Ham last week as Sunderland summer target Amine Adli came in to replace David Brooks and old colleague of Le Bris, Eli Kroupi, made way for star man Antoine Semenyo who returned to the side following an absence through injury. Bournemouth look to set up in a traditional 4-2-3-1 which relies on controlled possession and utilising an overlapping wing-back to create overloads within the opposition final third.
