As another game passed by on Saturday, Adil Aouchiche and Abdoullah Ba spent another weekend without football after yet again failing to make the matchday squad for RLB’s side, so the question is what next for the French pair?
Last season was a strange season for everyone associated with Sunderland and it’s fair to say it was a relatively strange season for both Ba and Aouchiche. Ba started off well with some positive displays off the bench before being rewarded with a start due to a Patrick Roberts injury in which he continued to show promise, with a run from the 5-0 win against Southampton to our 1-0 defeat to Cardiff City seeing him pick up a goal and an assist in 4 games. However, Ba’s campaign was marred by consistently being inconsistent, one week he would be bright and show his potential, the next he would overplay it and struggle to get past his man. With Ba given the responsibility to replace Amad, he was fighting a losing battle and struggled for pretty much the entire back end of the season with many fans writing him off.
Adil Aouchiche however probably created more hope for fans during last season. In his first campaign in England, the French Midfielder managed two goals and two assists in 28 appearances, with ten of those from the start. Off the bench there were a number of games where he was lively and brought some much-needed quality to the side. Despite this, when rewarded with a start, he would largely go missing in games, and only played one full game due to this.
Both were always going to be a bit further down the pecking order this season, with Roberts looking back to his best and Ian Poveda being brought into the side making it tough for Ba, and then the depth in the attacking midfield areas already with Jobe, Rigg and Browne before then the addition of Milan Aleksic adding to the competition for Aouchiche.
You do feel like something has gone on though, with both seemingly miles out of contention, with Le Bris opting to go with the likes of Trey Ogunsuyi and Timur Tutierov to fill the bench as alternatives to the two Frenchmen. RLB has constantly spoke about high standards in training, is that potentially the issue?
Another reason could simply be that both were a massive let down at Preston in the Cup, which
was largely seen as an opportunity to stake their claim, something they absolutely failed at.
You do feel like the time is up for Aouchiche and Ba, two players who at times showed lots of promise, with January still a while a way, you do hope they can try and get themselves back into contention, but I fear the answer to the question of what is next for them is more than likely a move away from Wearside in the winter window, be that permanently or on loan.
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