On Monday evening in the Premier League, Sunderland hosted a Burnley side struggling for any kind of form right now, with no wins on their record since a home victory against Leeds United back in October.
The hosts, meanwhile, entered Mondays match having won only once in their previous seven games.
Sunderland are strong at the Stadium of Light.
They are the only side yet to be beaten on home soil in the English top flight, and one of only eight teams across the top five divisions in Europe to hold this record.
The game developed into a contrast between the teams applications of approaches that, at their core, were very similar.
Both sides rely heavily on direct play into the forwards, ranking 18th (Burnley) and 19th (Sunderland) overall in total passes completed this season.
What developed was a demonstration by Régis Le Bris of how to effectively gain an advantage from this approach, rarely fazed by Burnley in defensive terms throughout, while still creating clear chances for themselves in attack.
Scott Parker will still be looking at the run of games coming for Burnley and wondering where the next win will come from.
Lineups & Formations
Le Bris set up his side in a 4-2-3-1 formation that had some flexibility when defending deep to allow Nordi Mukiele to tuck in from the right-back position, with cover from Trai Hume, to create a five across the backline.
In front of Robin Roefs in the net, Mukiele was accompanied by Dan Ballard, Omar Alderete, and Reinildo Mandava.
The long-time absentee and record signing Habib Diarra returned in midfield next to Noah Sadiki.
Trai Hume, Enzo Le Fée, and Chemsdine Talbi played the supporting roles to Brian Brobbey, as the lone Striker.
Scott Parker, meanwhile, opted for a 3-4-3 formation.
Martin Dubravka was in goal behind Bashir Humphreys, Maxim Esteve, and Alex Tuanzebe.
Lucas Pires and Kyle Walker operated down the flanks, the latter in a slightly more conservative role than his left-sided counterpart.
Florentino Luis and Lesley Ugochukwu occupied the double pivot, behind a forward trio of Marcus Edwards, Jaidon Anthony, and Lyle Foster.
Space Vacated By Burnley, Easily Exploited By Sunderland
The clear difference between the two teams, which ultimately led to the one-sided result, was their approach when becoming compact in defence.
For sides to succeed with a direct approach to attacking play, there must be a willingness and capacity to win duels and regain possession.
Sunderland were able to exploit the space left by Burnley due to some fundamental defensive issues for the Clarets.
Often, throughout the match, Burnleys back five would drop very deep into their own area when Sunderland had the ball in the attacking third.
A lot of the time, this happened because the midfield failed to follow, leaving them isolated in defending large patches of space between 10 and 20 yards from the byline.
The first example of this comes from the goal to make the score 1-0.
Initially, Burnley have a good shape to defend while Sunderland have settled possession, the wide players moving centrally to limit space.
Sunderland shi
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