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Phil Smith and Jason Jones on Enzo Le Fee's imminent Sunderland return (1)
Sunderland Echo
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31/03/2025
On the latest episode of The Roar podcast, our SAFC writers discuss the Frenchman's imminent return from injury.
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Sports
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00:00
So, the return of Le Fay is relatively imminent. Now, I imagine some of them are going to be
00:06
super cautious with him, to be honest, over the next couple of weeks, because obviously
00:10
another hamstring injury would be a bit of a disaster at this stage of the season. But,
00:15
Jason, just looking back to Le Fay coming back, are we now at the point now where the
00:20
ends are wide? I wouldn't say experiment, because it was actually pretty logical in
00:23
the time given the situation. Is that over? Are we now just dropping Le Fay in for Rigg,
00:29
in for Job, in for Dan Neil? Do you think that's the way forward?
00:33
Yeah, I think so. I think so. I think you sort of hinted at it there, but when he came
00:38
into the club, Le Bris' hand was very much forced by the sort of dual absence of Mundell
00:42
and Watson. Obviously, both of those players are back now. Mundell has started the last
00:46
few games. Watson has made a couple of cameo appearances from the bench. I don't really
00:53
see how there could be an argument for Le Fay playing out wide ahead of either of those
00:59
two when it's sort of obvious that he was signed as a central midfielder and it's sort
01:03
of obvious that that is his preferred position as well. I think it's actually really exciting
01:08
to be able to consider the prospect of him coming into this Sunderland side at this stage
01:13
of the season, obviously with the caveat that Sunderland won't want to rush him back into
01:17
the action. But there is a version of this where, again, don't want to tempt fate, but
01:22
we get sort of two, three, four weeks away from here and some of them could have, you
01:27
know, quote-unquote their best attacking line-up available to them. You know, if we sort of
01:31
consider Mundell on one side, Roberts on the other, Le Fay playing in behind and Isidoro
01:35
and Maienda, obviously that would then give you the option to rotate Rigg and then Bellingham
01:41
sort of floating around on the other side of that central three as well. So, it's, yeah,
01:46
it's what he was signed for and I still think that it's what Le Bris will ideally want him
01:51
to be in this side. And I think that what we've seen of him, the glimpses that we saw
01:56
of him and the way that he was able to impact games from that wide position, the prospect
02:00
of then putting him into a central role where he's sort of more readily involved in the
02:04
sort of cut and thrust of the game, I think there is the potential for him to be a real,
02:10
real game changer for Sunderland. So, I think he's, you know, if and when he's ready, he's
02:14
got to play in a central role.
02:17
I think this feels like quite a big deal for me, James, not just because of how good Le
02:21
Fay is, but I just think that even if it is sparingly initially, we've talked a little
02:26
bit about how unusual the situation in the season is with where Sunderland are on the
02:29
table. And I think in terms of keeping the momentum and also a bit of freshness, a bit
02:34
of excitement among the fan base, I think dropping Le Fay in is going to be a really
02:38
big part of that. And of course, what it does massively is it puts real competition in central
02:43
midfield, which hasn't existed this season. And the three players who've played the vast
02:47
majority of minutes have been incredible, really, when you consider their age and how
02:50
many minutes they've had to play. I think just going into that play-off, I think that
02:53
might just be the bit of edge that's needed in there for those players knowing that their
02:58
place is under threat, because let's be real, if Le Fay is fit by the time the play-off
03:01
starts, he's in the team, right?
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