The Sunderland selection riddle Lee will be determined to solve
Only one player has started every single league game since Lee Johnson took charge.
It has proven to be sage management on Johnson's part.
Aiden McGeady had barely played for the best part of the year,andthoughherarelycompleted 90 minutes, that run of games was crucial in allowing him to find his rhythm.
Even through the period when he was still understandably searching for his best form, there were important contributions, and in a week when Sunderland booked their place at Wembley and secured three crucial wins in the league, McGeady was at his most incisive.
For Jordan Jones, it has been both a positive and a negative.
Afteraspellinwhichhehad played little football at Rangers, he too was short on match fitness, and McGeady's form has allowed him to build up to something near his best.
McGeady's star turns, though, have also made it difficult for him to break into the starting XI.
There were signs of Jones beginning to state a case difficulttoignoreatBurtonAlbion. Sunderland were 2-0 up when he was introduced, but were also having their worst spell of the game. Jones helped tilt the momentumbackSunderland's way, and a fine assist for CharlieWykewasfairrewardforhis vibrant cameo.
At Crewe Alexandra, he
took his performance to another level.
Johnson candidly admitted afterwards that he consideredmakingfivesubstitutions at half time, such was the ease with which Crewe had taken a two-goal lead.
ThoughtheBlackCatswere marginally better after the break, there was little sign of a revival until Jones (and Chris Maguire) entered the fray.
It was not just about that goal from Jones, either.
That was a truly stunning strike,buteverytimehepicked up the ball on the left wing, he causedproblems.Shortlyafter his goal, he again danced past hismarker,thistimegettingto thebylineandputtinginacross that almost fell to Wyke.
His burst of pace also won a raft of free-kicks, from which some superb deliveries from
Maguire should have yielded at least one goal.
Sunderlandweresopoorin possession that Johnson had told his team to play 'over and around', rather than 'through'. In short, to be more direct and get at their opponents.
Jones, more than anyone, turned the tide; a point very much proven.
The challenge for Johnson is that both Jones and McGeady
are best playing off the left wing, where they can threaten by cutting in and shooting, or going wide and crossing.
The defeat at Shrewsbury Townistheonlytimetheyhave started a game together, and the balance of the side looked off, the Black Cats too easily overwhelmed out of possession in a wretched defeat.
In the short term, it seems likely that Johnson will freshen things up and it may be that McGeady takes his first, brief pause. The head coach ruminated afterwards that this may have been the game to make five or six changes as the fixture schedule appeared to catch up with his side. In the long term, you can guarantee that getting both these gamechanging players in the same side will be a puzzle he is determined to try and solve.
Lee Johnson says he has a 'difficult' team selection for Swindon Town's visit to the Stadium of Light tonight, as he bids to avoid a repeat of the sluggish start that almost cost his side dearly against Crewe Alexandra on Saturday.
Stunning strikes from Jordan Jones and Chris Maguire rescued a point from a game in which Johnson was scathing of his team's first-half performance.
The Sunderland head coach says he and his squad are fully aware that they will not 'get away' with many more displays of that ilk.
After the game at Gresty Road, Johnson admitted his side may have benefited from more changes, and that will be weighing on his mind as he picks his team for Tuesday's game.
John Sheridan's Swindon Town are struggling just three points above the relegation zone, but have taken seven points from nine of late.
"One of the lessons I learned very early on in football management is to never pick the team directly after a game! Because you can be very emotional," Johnson said.
"We know we've got to be at it, a lot more than we were on Saturday.
"It's a really difficult team selection because I've got to find certain attributes and a lift from zero, if you like, that will give us the opportunity to go and win the game, and more importantly, the process
to do the right things to win those margins that give us the opportunity to win the game.
"I'm going to have to really make sure that any player I pick is really up for it.
"It's a game we can win if we're full of endeavour and win those duels, and trust the process of the performance that we've seen on a number of occasions so far.
"The positive is that it's kept a run going, and the form over five or six games is still pretty good.
"We've got away with one and we know we won't get away with many, particularly in March when we've got those big games."
Johnson is not expecting any of his currently sidelined players to return to the matchday squad on Tuesday night.
The Black Cats boss is hopeful that alongside Bailey Wright, Tom Flanagan and Ross Stewart will be able to return in the near future but both have endured minor setbacks in their recovery from calf and hamstring injuries respectively.
"Tom Flanagan won't be back, he's actually got a slightly deferred injury," Johnson said.
"I think when he's broken his foot he's been running differently, and he's then felt his calf. He's then, I think, been covering his calf and he's felt his hip flexor.
"Bailey [Wright] is really trying for that week leading into the Papa John's final.
"Ross Stewart is doing everything alright, but there's something that's just nipping him.
"He's not fully confident in it, it's definitely physical rather than mental. It's not bad, it's just an ache and that suggests it's just not quite fully healed yet.
"He's exactly the kind of player that you'd have loved to have stuck on against Crewe, that kind of player who can chase and win his own flickons."