The key selection decisions Cats must consider for Robins clash
After the 2-1 defeat to Doncaster Rovers, Mike Dodds said he and his interim management team were simply working 'day-to-day' as the club's search for Lee Johnson's replacement continued.
Dodds added that he hoped a successor would be in place for Tuesday night's trip to CheltenhamTown,butthathe wouldbeoverseeingthepreparations in the short-term.
It is of course a fluid situation capable of changing quickly,butasitstandsitlooks increasingly likely that Dodds will remain in charge for what is a crucial League One game.
Sunderland cannot afford to let the gap to the top two grow any further, and equally there has to be some concern over the gap to the lower end of the play-off places shortening.
If it is to be Dodds, then thereareanumberofkeyselection decisions that he will have to weigh up in the aftermath of Saturday'sbitterlydisappointing result and performance.
Here, we take a closer look at what those changes could potentially look like…
CHANGE THE SHAPE
By and large the interim management team opted to keep the faith with the side which had been heavily beatenbyBoltonWanderersaweek earlier.
The one significant change hadbeentomovetoabackfive, with Carl Winchester taking up a role on the right of the three central defenders.
"I don't want to dwell too much on the past but we felt that at Bolton we were a little bit too open and exposed," Dodds said.
"We felt that the personnel would allow us to get a little bit more security in the back line, and what Winnie would give us is a shape-change without making a sub, and you could see that in the second half when we went to a back four."
Dodds added that he didn't feel the goals necessarily came as a result of the team's shape, but the fact that the performance improved considerably with a back four in the second half will no doubt be in his thinking ahead of the game at Cheltenham.
While Sunderland have
looked exposed at times with a back four on the road this season, their squad at this stage looks more suited to playing with genuine wide players.
That is particularly the case with Bailey Wright out injured and defensive options light following Tom Flanagan's deadline-day departure for Shrewsbury Town, and DenverHumejoiningPortsmouth.
Doddssaidhewouldreflect further on the matter once he hadachancetowatchthegame back and reflect more closely on where the Black Cats had fallen short.
He said player feedback would be 'absolutely welcomed', too.
CHANGE THE WIDE PLAYERS
There were very few positivestocomefromthatdemoralising
defeat to Doncaster Rovers, but Jack Clarke was arguably one.
The Tottenham Hotspur loanee was lively and direct, creatingacoupleofgoodopenings for his team thanks to his willingness to get on the ball and drive at defenders.
Should Sunderland revert to a back four then he will surely be in contention for a full debut should the interim management team be looking to freshen things up.
Patrick Roberts will also be considered, though it remains to be seen whether he is ready to complete 90 minutes after being an unused substitute on Saturday.
If Dodds and his staff want to keep some element of continuity in the XI, then Leon Dajaku is another option who couldcomeinafterdroppingto the bench against Doncaster.
A DEBUT FOR JAY MATETE
Sunderland's interim team opted not to hand Jay Matete a fulldebut,withDoddsexplaining afterwards: "Jay came in this week and it's a big move for him, he's a young man comingfromFleetwood(Town)and you have to weigh up all those factors."
The 20-year-old did look bright in his late cameo, and the backroom staff will surely be weighing up a change in the midfield blend after the game on Saturday.
Corry Evans did score a late consolation and Dan Neil did improve in the second half, forcingoneexcellentsavefrom distance, but the latter in particular looked as if he could benefit from a rest.
Matete has been a regular for Fleetwood this season, so the demands of the Cheltenham Town game should be nothing new.
It looks like one of the easiest ways of getting some freshness into the team after a challenging week.
THE JERMAIN DEFOE WILDCARD
Defoe had little real chance toimpactthegameonSaturday afternoon, making a couple of dangerousrunsbutseeingvery
little of the ball as Sunderland unsuccessfully tried to overturn the two-goal deficit.
Starting the 39-year-old looks unlikely to be one of the options seriously considered by the interim management team, with Dodds saying that his introduction would have to be carefully managed given the limited gametime he had enjoyed up until his arrival late on deadline day.
"We have a duty of care to Jermain because he has only playednineminutesoffootball this season," he said.
"His quality is undoubted, but he has not just come in to play for this one game, he has come in to play for the remainder of the season and try to get us out of the league."
The option to pair him up front with Ross Stewart will no doubt be a tempting one at some stage over the coming weeks, whoever the new head coach turns out to be.