Sunderland 1 – 1 Leeds United: The Mailman Delivers Again on Wearside. Crucially, every team below us lost this weekend. That hard-fought draw puts us 7 points clear of the drop zone. DCL, the mailman, delivered again for the sixth game in a row. The next two months are going to be the defining era of Daniel Farke’s tenure. He has to prove he can defy the critics and keep us up, especially with experienced operators like Nuno at West Ham and Dyche at Nottingham Forest breathing down our necks.
Honours were even in the end, meaning Sunderland kept their unbeaten home record, but Leeds maintained the momentum. It’s worth noting Sunderland FC were depleted—they have six players away at AFCON and Ballard is out injured. We should have capitalised earlier, but they were disciplined.
The First Half: Frustration and The Rodon Blow
The first half was a tactical headache. Sunderland used the home crowd to their advantage, and Granit Xhaka ran the show in midfield—they looked a completely different animal to the side we played in the Championship.
The turning point of the half was an injury. Joe Rodon took a battering—trod on twice, tried to soldier on, but eventually had to succumb to the knock. It forced Farke to abandon the 3-5-2, introducing Ao Tanaka to shore things up.
Poor defending on the half hour cost us. Xhaka, pulling the strings again, launched a long throw that caught us napping. An unmarked Simon Adingra collected it and bent a beauty past Perri. 1-0 down at the break.
The Second Half: Liquid Football
We’ve seen it against Brentford, and we saw it again today: this Leeds side does not know when it is beaten. Farke’s playbook is to come out in the second half and steamroll the opposition
The equalizer was pure magic. It started on the right, recycled back to the left, and then a deft flick involved the whole team, with Brenden Aaronson providing the killer assist to Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
The Stat: That’s DCL’s seventh goal in six matches. He says he’s never been fitter, and it shows. The “Mailman” delivered again with a tidy finish. His goal map is a perfect straight line right in front of the six-yard box. A proper poacher.
The Grunt Work
For the next half hour, we bullied them. We were physically superior, winning every second ball. Noah Okafor and Jayden Bogle were whipping crosses in for DCL. Sunderland’s tall defenders held firm, but Jaka Bijol—who is looking more colossal with every game—forced their keeper into two straightforward saves from headers.
We ran out of gas in the engine room toward the end, and Sunderland had a late push, but we soaked it up, unlike early in the season when we gave away late goals. This is a team growing in confidence and skill as it works out how to play together.
Player Ratings & Verdict
Brenden Aaronson has change from a crazy rabbit running around lost; to providing link-up play with DCL.
Man of the Match: Ethan Ampadu. He was everywhere on the pitch. Breaking up play, driving forward, and even testing the keeper with a shot of his own.
It’s a massive point. We go into the New Year with a cushion, a striker on form, and a formation that works.
