Sunderland midfielder Dan Neil has said that Sunderland have a ‘frustrating’ problem in front of goal.
Sunderland failed to score again on Saturday afternoon as they drew 0-0 with Swansea City.
Swansea midfielder Charlie Patino was sent off in the first half, but the Black Cats failed to capitalise on their one-man advantage, despite having 25 shots.
Neil opens up on striking problem
Speaking to the Newcastle Chronicle after the defeat to Swansea, £1.3k-a-week star Neil spoke on Sunderland’s failures in front of goal.
“It was very frustrating.
“I feel like there have been a lot of times when I’ve played for Sunderland and teams have gone down to ten men and we just struggle to break them down. I felt the first 30 minutes [before the sending-off] were really good, in and out of possession I thought we dominated.
“Our press was fantastic, they couldn’t really get out of their half. We were forcing errors and cutting through them as well.
“I had a really good chance around the penalty spot and just didn’t get a clean connection on it. Last year we got beaten 2-1 there and it was an alright performance in the second half.
“We came away taking the positives, yet we’re not taking many positives from this because we wanted the three points. It just shows how far this team has come because when we come to places like this we expect to take three points.
“Once Patto saved that pen we need to find a way to break teams down and put the ball in the back of the back of the net and we just couldn’t do that.”
Sunderland need to solve striker problem as soon as possible
Neil is not wrong.
Sunderland have failed to score a goal with a recognised striker since January 2023.
All the summer signings like Nazariy Rusyn, Mason Burstow and Luis Hemir Semedo have all failed to hit the ground running so far.
The Black Cats have been linked with signing Ali Al Hamadi from AFC Wimbledon.
Manager Tony Mowbray has also spoken on the situation which he also said has left him ‘frustrated’.