Sunderland graphic is damning for Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Co: View

The decision to sack Tony Mowbray in December looks even more damning for Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, looking at the expected goals stats for the club

Sunderland have recently sacked their second manager this season, with Mick Beale’s 63-day spell at the Stadium of Light ending in February this year.

The former Rangers manager was dismissed by the club following defeat to Birmingham City, leaving the club in 10th place in the table with less than half of the Championship season left to play.

A graphic revealed by WeAreSunderland has shown the difference between the performances of Mowbray and Beale at Sunderland so far this season, revealing how much of a mistake Kyril Louis-Dreyfus made by sacking the current Birmingham City manager last year.

The decision to fire Mowbray last year looks like a bad one, considering how well he was doing compared to Beale during his short stint in charge.

Under the former West Bromwich Albion manager, the Black Cats had an expected goal tally of 32.8 from 19 games, averaging an xG of 1.72 per match.

This would have put them third in the xG table, just behind Leeds United and Leicester City so far in the Championship.

The club should have been much higher in the table than they were when Mowbray was sacked, with the club expected to be fifth in the table based on xG, even with their manager issues since Mowbray’s exit.

The defence was also impressive under Mowbray, with 20.4 expected goals against, with an average of 1.07 per match. This shows that the team were expected to outscore their opponent in an average match, with Sunderland having one of the most impressive teams on paper during this time.

Mowbray was still replaced by Beale in December 2023, despite being just three points away from the play-offs and in with a chance of promotion to the Premier League.

Performances have regressed under Beale at Sunderland

Another graph, this time by The Mackem Analyst, showed just how quickly the drop-off occurred when Beale took over at Sunderland.

Not only did the expected goals lower when Beale took charge, but so too did the results at the Stadium of Light. After challenging for the play-offs under Mowbray, the club struggled to pick up wins under Beale and quickly fell down the table.

In his 12 games in charge, Sunderland managed just four wins and picked up only 14 points out of a possible 33 (with one match being a 3-0 loss in the FA Cup against fierce rivals Newcastle United).

Perhaps most crucially, Beale failed to get the best out of star winger Jack Clarke during his time in charge of Sunderland. Clarke only scored four times in Beale’s time in charge, compared to the ten times he found the net under Mowbray at the Stadium of Light.

Considering he lasted just nine weeks and 12 matches in charge and oversaw the club falling down to tenth place in the league, it is clear that bringing in Beale to replace Mowbray was a poor decision by Louis-Dreyfus.

Mowbray was doing well to challenge for promotion this season, considering the loss of key players like Amad Diallo and Ross Stewart in the summer.

It is clear that the club need somebody experienced to steady the ship in the summer. It looks likely that Clarke will exit Sunderland in the summer, so they will need to find somebody to replace their star player, which is an almost impossible task for any manager.

The call to sack Mowbray looks like a disastrous one, not only in hindsight but at the time as well, looking at the impressive expected goal stats the club were putting up until the Birmingham manager’s tenure at the Stadium of Light.