Sunderland must unleash Abdoullah Ba

Sunderland return to motion within the Championship on Saturday as they tackle Burnley on the Stadium of Mild with the intention of bouncing again from their final outing within the division.

Tony Mowbray’s facet misplaced 2-0 to his former facet Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park and that end result has left the membership sitting thirteenth within the table because it stands.

The Black Cats had solely misplaced one of their final six previous to their conflict in Lancashire and they’re going to now be trying to keep away from back-to-back defeats as they tackle Vincent Kompany’s males.

Mowbray could look to shake his workforce up after a disappointing defeat final outing and one participant he should now unleash from the beginning is central midfielder Abdoullah Ba.

Elliot Embleton began in that place in opposition to Rovers however struggled to impress as he recorded a SofaScore rating of 6.6, making one deal with, interception, and block mixed, while being dribbled previous once in 64 minutes.

Ought to Ba begin in opposition to Burnley?

Ba got here on for him and caught the attention in his 26 minutes of motion. The Frenchman gained 100% (3/3 and 1/1) of his particular person duels and tried dribbles, while finishing one deal with and never permitting a single participant to dribble previous him.

His former boss Paul Le Guen beforehand claimed that he has “similarities” with Paul Pogba, Lassana Diarra, and N’Golo Kante, saying: “After all, he nonetheless has a protracted option to go to succeed in the heights of those three, however I consider he has the potential and energy to develop into a star on the pitch.”

The 19-year-old could not play like a Pogba or a Kante but however he seemingly has the scope to get there sooner or later and Mowbray should now see how he offers with beginning a Championship match at his age.

Soccer expertise scout Jacek Kulig as soon as described him as a “pearl” and hailed his attack-minded participant from midfield on his web site, writing:

“[A] participant that at all times tries to discover a vertical possibility in his recreation with dribbling, progressive runs, and passes/very able to pushing his workforce ahead to ending positions.”

This means that he might assist Sunderland to progress by means of the traces in opposition to Burnley, while his statistics off the bench in opposition to Blackburn present that he’s sturdy defensively and might present a protect in entrance of the defence.

Due to this fact, Mowbray should neglect Embleton and at last unleash the French gem – who has solely made five appearances as an alternative to date this season – from the beginning in opposition to the Clarets.