It has been said that this 20-year-old player was “hung out to dry” by former Sunderland manager Michael Beale.
Although Beale was fired by Sunderland last month, the damage he caused is still evident.
The Black Cats have now dropped their past five Championship games; the first two were Beale’s final two games in command, and Mike Dodds has lost three of his last three games as interim manager.
After losing 1-0 against Leicester City in the middle of the week, Sunderland is now nine points above the drop zone as opposed to ten points outside the top six. This has caused them to fall into 11th place.
However, there were some encouraging aspects of the Leicester game at the Stadium of Light: Adil Aouchiche looked impressive in his debut role and Chris Rigg was excellent.
Adil Aouchiche has a difficult debut season at Sunderland
Several young players, including Aouchiche, joined Sunderland in the summer.
Along with Timothee Pembele and Nazariy Rusyn, Luis Hemir has also had a difficult first year on Wearside, similar to a few others.
Aouchiche, a French midfielder who signed from Lorient last summer, has made 20 appearances in the Championship so far this year, with one assist and one goal.
However, Beale would temporarily banish the former PSG young player for a few weeks following a subpar cameo against Ipswich Town in January.
After making two appearances off the bench under Dodds, including a standout performance in the most recent match against Leicester, Aouchiche would only play once more under Beale.
Journalist James Copley also discussed the 21-year-old’s season thus far on the Road Podcast.
“I believe that Sunderland has handled him badly thus far during his tenure. It’s most likely been difficult for him. He agreed to a five-year contract with the team, started playing under Tony Mowbray, was still getting used to the game, and displayed some very exceptional moments. Following Tony Mowbray’s departure, Michael Beale joins the team and plays against Ipswich Town. Let’s face it, Michael Beale kind of put him out to dry after that. Then, for months, Aouchiche is not to be found.
Children require a nurturing adult.
Tony Mowbray comes out as a really sincere and compassionate person, which may have been one of the reasons he was so adept at working with younger players.
For younger players like Aouchiche, who had travelled from their home country to Wearside in the bitter cold and weather and played in a more physically demanding league of football, he was presumably somewhat of a father figure.
It appears that Beale was perhaps the antithesis of that type of boss or coach, and that type of mentor may be underappreciated.
However, Dodds may offer the best of both worlds, which may be the reason Aouchiche has returned and performed well against Leicester.
Aouchiche, who plays in a more advanced midfield position, has the ability to seriously hurt opponents with some slicing passes in the closing seconds of games, as demonstrated by the goal he assisted Dan Ballard on late in the week.
Aouchiche’s confidence will grow with more first-team experience, and he has the potential to develop into a valuable member of the Black Cats’ lineup.
This Sunday, Sunderland will play Southampton again.
Read more news at https://sportupdates.co.uk
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