Sunderland have been told why Jack Clarke’s injury might not be the ‘worst thing in the world’.
Things have gone from bad to worse for Sunderland recently, having seen their chances of reaching the Championship playoffs slip further away without even playing a game.
Three successive defeats has left the Black Cats eight points adrift from the top six, while a run of fixtures against Norwich, Leicester and Southampton could knock them even further down the table.
If fans hadn’t accepted that the playoffs are no longer on the cards already, they certainly have now that the club have confirmed Jack Clarke’s potential return date.
The winger suffered ankle ligament damage during the defeat to Birmingham City earlier this month, before missing out on the Swansea City clash at the weekend.
It was bad enough when reports had claimed he could miss the next three games, however the club have now confirmed he will be missing for up to six weeks. This could see him miss fixture against Norwich, Leicester, Southampton, QPR, Cardiff, Blackburn, Bristol City, Leeds United and possibly West Brom.
Clarke has contributed to 32% of Sunderland’s goals this season and has been heavily relied on during a really tough campaign for their attack – with Nazariy Rusyn, Mason Burstow, Luis Hemir Semedo, Eliezer Mayenda, Patrick Roberts and Abdoullah Ba netting a mere six goals between them.
Despite losing their best player, journalist Michael Graham believes his absence isn’t a complete disaster.
Writing on X, he said: “Sunderland were going to have to get used to playing without Jack Clarke this summer regardless. Might not be the worst thing in the world to get a head start on it.”
Is Jack Clarke’s absence as bad as it seems?
While it could well be a very depressing couple of months watching Sunderland without Jack Clarke, it would have been a lot worse if the club were still deep within the playoff battle.
The Black Cats probably wouldn’t have finished in the top six even with Clarke, so now it feels like we can just use the rest of the campaign to prepare for life without the 23-year-old.
Romaine Mundle could well be our main man next season and this gives him the opportunity to become that in the final 12 games, while we can also use it as a chance to move things around – perhaps give Rusyn a go out wide and offer Hemir the start he has been waiting for since the opening day defeat to Ipswich.
We are going to really struggle to win games without Clarke, but as long as we don’t plunge down the table, then perhaps Mike Dodds can make the best out of a bad situation.