Black Cats’ slide must be stopped this summer
IT’S difficult to be critical of Sunderland when the club have 10 unfit senior players.
But it is clear to see there is major work to be done in the summer if a squad representing the club are to be competitive next season and a team the fans demand.
The alarming drop-off is sad to see, even though understandable in the circumstances.
In the last seven games, Sunderland have scored four goals.
Since Jack Clarke last played, they have scored three in five and drawn blanks on three occasions.
Interim head coach Mike Dodds had said he had the team playing the way he would expect a Sunderland side to look.
But against QPR, even he looked totally deflated afterwards by the way the team played. There was no creativity, no shots on target and hardly a thing for the Sunderland faithful to get excited about.
Defensively, there were plenty of holes but, ironically, given the problems with injured personnel, the team kept a clean sheet for the first time since New Year’s Day.
The return of injured players can’t really come soon enough and skipper Luke O’Nien will be back for the next game away at Cardiff City too.
Bradley Dack was on the bench with Corry Evans and both played for the U21s against Newcastle on Monday. And Aji Alese could join them among the substitutes when the Black Cats travel to Cardiff on Good Friday.
Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts remain absent from train
ing and those two more than anybody are needed to inject some life back into the performances.
Even so, the prospect of just seeing out the season with nothing riding on it is not an enticing prospect.
The summer transfer window is vital. When Clarke’s agent is saying he hopes to see his player leave the club there doesn’t appear to be much hope of him staying.
Losing their star attraction will not be easy to replace, but the Sunderland hierarchy watching on Saturday will have realised just what a job they have in making the brand of football palatable for the supporters next term.
The attacking style of Tony Mowbray which put Sunderland into the position they were in right up until Michael Beale’s departure seems a world away.
Returning to that will take a great deal of work and planning – and the club need to get it right.