Strikers can mix it up for Cats attack
JACK Ross believes Sunderland will be less predictable thanks to Charlie Wyke and Jerome Sinclair returning to fitness.
The Black Cats boss was left relying on just Josh Maja and Chris Maguire in the opening weeks of the campaign, with Wyke and Sinclair both struck down with injury during pre-season (Wyke’s occurring prior to his arrival at the club).
Wyke came off the bench to rescue a point last weekend against Oxford, before then boosting his fitness with 75 minutes of action in midweek against Stoke City’s U21s in the Checkatrade Trophy. Watford loannee Sinclair, meanwhile, recovered ahead of schedule to play 15 minutes of that latter fixture. And while Ross has absolutely no complaints with how well Maja and Maguire have performed so far, he admits the returning pair offer something different, and allow Sunderland to mix their attacking movement up.
“I think the players coming back in forward positions, in particular, is helping us a lot,” he said ahead of Saturday’s clash with Fleetwood Town.
“Josh (Maja) and Chris (Maguire) have done really well to enable us to get the points that we have at the moment.
“We’ve asked an awful lot of them and asked them to do roles that at times were slightly unusual to them, and asked them to play in a manner that wasn’t always natural to them.
“Charlie Wyke and Jerome Sinclair being fit just strengthens our options and enables us to change our game a bit better. That’s a massive boost.”
Ross is happy to have the options, and will assess which is best for each game.
While Wyke offers plenty in terms of height and strength, Sinclair is more likely to use his pace and get in behind the opposition defence.
Ross continued: “Chris and Josh want the ball all the time, so their natural tendency is to come towards the ball. They do it very well, but as you saw the other night, Jerome likes to stretch the game at times and Charlie will give you an option where he will compete aerially. That is nice to have available, either during the game or off the bench.”