Fan Letters: “Hopefully Brian Brobbey Will Start Against Liverpool And Man City!”

Dear Roker Report,

What a win for Sunderland against Bournemouth. Not a straightforward easy win but a hard-fought win after going 0-2 down. Does this team ever accept being beaten — especially at the Stadium of Light?

We may not have a twenty-goal-per-season striker but what we do have are players in every position who can contribute to the scoreline. After thirteen games, we have ten different scorers and I suspect no other club can match or beat that — defenders, midfielders and forwards have all put the ball in the net.

My last comment is that we need to start Brian Brobbey from the start as we need his strength and hold up play to allow our midfield to support him. Wilson Isidor has done well and his work rate can’t be faulted, but he just lacks the physical presence.

He would be much better supporting Brobbey — and hopefully Brobbey will start against Liverpool and Manchester City, where we’re likely to see much less of the ball.

Bill Fisher

Ed’s Note [Phil]: Hi, Bill. Thank you for your letter.

Given that we’re now in December and the Lads have yet to taste defeat at the Stadium of Light, the answer to your first question is emphatic — “No. This team doesn’t accept being beaten at home”.

We’ve managed to win games and earn vital points from tricky positions during 2025/2026, and the message we’ve sent by doing that is that visiting sides know they’re in for a real battle when they arrive on Wearside.

Regarding Brian Brobbey, I fully agree that he has a strong case for being our starting striker — certainly for the Liverpool game and possibly Manchester City as well.

I believe his physicality and aggression are real assets and given that Liverpool in particular have looked shaky at the back this season, Wednesday night could be the perfect chance for him to start a game in red and white for the first time.

Dear Roker Report,

When Granit Xhaka was at Arsenal, I never appreciated what a good player he was.

He’s the best captain I’ve seen for Sunderland in my time (I’m thirty and I’m too young to remember Bally’s captaincy). He’s an excellent footballer but I think his leadership and determination, as well as his nous and know-how are even more valuable. I can’t wait to see him get stuck into the Mags.

Thank God for Xhaka. That’s all I can say — but when either Noah Sadiki or Habib Diarra score their first goal for us, I’m gonna cheer so loud the whole of Sunderland will hear me.

Benji Eckford

Ed’s Note [Phil]: Hi, Benji. Thank you for getting in touch.

I can honestly say that in my thirty years of supporting Sunderland, Xhaka is up there with the most inspirational players I’ve seen in the red and white stripes.

He’s a serial winner; a standard-setter, a colossal on-field presence and a world class footballer who’s established himself as one of our key players so far this season.

It’s still astonishing to me that we’ve got him but as you say, thank God we do!

Dear Roker Report,

Does anyone know anything about the acoustics up on the top tier, where the away supporters are housed?

This season, I’ve watched a number of video blogs from away fans who all reckoned they couldn’t hear the Sunderland fans and that they made more noise.

On Sunday, I watched a very good video from a Bournemouth fan who again claimed the Sunderland fans were quiet — yet down on the touchline, the Bournemouth coach was claiming the opposite, saying the noise of the home crowd swayed the referee into making decisions for the home team.

It made me wonder if that top deck has some kind of closed acoustic environment.

John Briggs

Ed’s Note [Phil]: Hi, John. Thank you for your letter.

I’m unsure if there’s any kind of acoustic dampening in place in the upper tier of the North Stand, but I can tell you that from my perspective, the atmosphere generated by our supporters on Saturday was absolutely superb.

As the game wore on and we showed signs of possibly winning, the fans responded as they so often so, and there’s no doubt that it played a major role in our eventual victory. It really can make a huge difference!

Dear Roker Report,

The win over Fulham in 2017 was the first win at Stadium of Light in 364 days, as I recall.

I think it was also the first time in all that time that the Black Cats were ahead for more than ten minutes — I believe that the fans had had the joy of being ahead in a home game only for around ten minutes in all during that miserable time.

Someone analyzed it — I don’t know how to find it — but when I heard that stat, I knew it to be true. Having watched every minute from across the Atlantic, I remember noticing that the rare times we went ahead, it was short-lived.

Elizabeth Hovey