Red Rose Triumph Sends Sunderland Rockets Up a Rank!

Sunderland's Wilson Isidor arrives at the ground ahead of the Premier League match at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland. Picture date: Sunday February 22, 2026. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images) | PA Images via Getty Images Is it all over?

Is a player who scored an array of sublime goals en-route to promotion and appeared to have thrown himself wholeheartedly into life on Wearside before kicking off the 2025/2026 season in encouraging form edging ever closer to the Stadium of Light exit — or is there some form of redemption arc within reach as Sunderland attempt to end the campaign in positive fashion? As the Lads sought to chase the game at 0-1 down against Brighton on Saturday, Régis Le Bris’ decision to bring Dennis Cirkin into the fray for Chemsdine Talbi raised eyebrows and felt far more significant than your classic left-field, “Let’s try something a little bit different at this stage of the game”-type substitution. Wilson Isidor was on the bench and presumably primed and ready, but that’s where he stayed as we slumped to defeat with Le Bris subsequently opting for Eliezer Mayenda when Brian Brobbey exited late on.

Once again, the decisions didn’t pay off, we didn’t find the breakthrough and Sunderland were left to rue another game that got away from them. It was desperate stuff for Isidor; a far cry from those memorable times he often enjoyed following his arrival in the summer of 2024, and a sad turn of events for a player whose talent is substantial but — as Le Bris himself revealed ahead of Saturday’s game — has struggled with form and fitness as well as the intensity of the Premier League. Isidor’s Sunderland story is one of the more interesting of recent times.

He gave me a great deal of enjoyment as we gained promotion back to the Premier League and after announcing his arrival with goals in each of our first three home games, it felt as though he was another Championship signing who had the capacity to make an impact in the top flight. Quite what (if anything) has gone on behind the scenes — either in his personal life, regarding his physical state or on the training ground — remains a mystery but it’s hard to overlook, as well as being concerning. The bigger picture here concerns what happens if and when Brobbey is unavailable, and of course, only a fool would deny that the drop off from the former Ajax striker to the mercurial Isidor and the talented-yet-raw Mayenda is significant.