Grayson: we must defend better in the league

striker, but youngster Josh Maja has excelled in his two appearances so far.

With a strong crop of central midfielders also at his disposal, Grayson has no qualms that with new arrivals he will have what he needs to hurt teams in attack.

The major challenge will be ensuring they are ready for the physical challenge in the second tier.

He said: “When you’re a team that comes down from the Premier League, you have to have quality. There are certain ingredients that are different from the Premier League, and the players are going to have to get into that mindset. Without the ball, you’ve got to stop the opposition from playing and you’ve got to defend better.

“Teams in the Championship are probably going to ask more questions of you in a more direct manner. We have to deal with that, and that’s what we’re going to be working on a lot over the next four or five weeks before the season starts. With the ball, it isn’t a problem because they wouldn’t be at this club unless they could handle it.”

Simon Grayson has also revealed that Tyias Browning is not yet ready to join his teammates in pre-season action.

Fellow loanee made a promising debut in the second half against Hibernian, but Browning, whose signing was confirmed on Saturday morning, might not appear in a red and white shirt until the clash with St Johnstone this weekend.

The Black Cats travel for their third pre-season game against Livingston on Wednesday night.

He said: “He’s a little bit behind schedule in terms of where we are with the fitness side of things, so the likelihood is that he won’t be involved on Wednesday.

“He may be involved at St Johnstone on Saturday, but we need to get some more work into him.”

Tickets for Sunderland’s pre-season friendlies at Livingston and St Johnstone are on general sale.

Adult tickets for the Black Cats’triptoLivingstontomorrow (7.45pm) are priced £15, with over-65s £10 and U16s £5.

Tickets for Saturday’s visit to St Johnstone (2pm) are priced £15 for adults and £8 for over-65s and U19s. Accompanied U13s can get a ticket free of charge.