Why project Ekwah and the patience it requires is something Sunderland must embrace

Author:
Michael Graham
Publish date:
Apr 3, 2023 11:05 PM EDT

Countless players have passed through Sunderland in the 35 years since I first stepped foot in Roker Park, but few have been as interesting as Pierre Ekwah.

Ekwah arrived in January from West Ham having been hidden away in youth football all his career, although you wouldn’t know it by the size of him.

You certainly would know it by his naivety at times, and it was for that reason why he was a surprise name in the Sunderland starting line-up for the game against Burnley last week, despite the face he had done exceptionally well as a substitute in the previous match against Luton.

His performance at Turf Moor certainly stirred debate, but I am not entirely sure it really should have.

I appreciate that statistics are only ever an aide to debate, not the end of it, but they can also be revealing. On the face of it, Ekwah certainly did okay against Burnley.

The Frenchman misplaced just four of his 22 passes, created a couple of chances and won four of his five ground duels. It was a decent performance by anyone’s standards.

It was also the first ever senior start of his career, against the runaway league leaders away from home, so it was never going to be a dominant one.

The signs were certainly encouraging, though, and in many ways it was a sneak peak at what supporting Sunderland will probably look like for the next few years.

Ekwah is a player with a lot of obvious upsides. He has the kind of midfield physical presence the club have been needing for years, he’s strong, mobile, and has a very talented left foot that offers some natural balance. One particular sweeping pass out to Patrick Roberts in the second half at Turf Moor was especially impressive.

He is also as raw a player as we have seen come to Sunderland. He does sometimes look to be half asleep and can appear lazy on the ball, and he definitely hasn’t developed the aggression that he needs to make the most of his physical presence.

There are two distinct lists there, though: what he has and what he needs. Everything that Pierre Ekwah has are things you can’t learn, everything that he still needs are things he can. That’s a very good starting point for any player.

It’s quite clear at this point that players such as Ekwah will be the norm when it comes to arrivals at Sunderland. They will be a work in progress from day one. For all it looks obvious to everyone that an injection of experience is needed in the squad, it appears that the plan will be to give experience, not buy it, and slowly become more streetwise as a team that way.

We can argue the merits of that model all day long, but there is little chance of Sunderland throwing millions at chasing promotion. Reinvest million, possibly, but that’s a discussion for another day.

In the meantime, Pierre Ekwah will embody what the vision for Sunderland is all about, and the patience required to see it through.

Speaking after the game against Burnley, Tony Mowbray said: "People need experience, otherwise how do you ever get up to speed?

"Pierre has now played in a game against the top team in the league, and it'll be an amazing experience for him. I've been saying to him from day one that he has to get up to speed.

"He's been playing U23s football all his life. He's never played a first-team game really, so here we go, playing against men whose life depends on winning football matches.

"That's a big difference from the U23s, where you get told to stand in a position and play to A or B or C. He was in the middle of a proper football match on Friday night, with men.

"It'll have been a good experience for him."

Find a diamond, smooth the rough edges, polish it up, enjoy it yourself for a while and move it on. It won’t be easy, and no one can say if it will even succeed, but at least we know what the plan is.

And that plan should be the prism through which Ekwah, and the other young players, are judged. Our club’s agonising odyssey from Premier League to League One oblivion has forced us to embrace patience. Hopefully, that patience can now provide a path to a much better place from which we started.

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