One Sunderland man has been severely wasteful in front of goal this season for the Black Cats.
Sunderland are entering the business end of the season, having almost cemented a play-off spot this campaign.
With nine games left of the Championship season, Sunderland find themselves eight points away from Sheffield United, who take up the latter automatic promotion spot, whilst the Black Cats have an incredibly safe 15 point buffer separating themselves and Bristol City.
Whilst Sunderland have certainly over-performed this season, considering their lowly 16th position in the 2023/24 campaign, there have been a few issues, particularly regarding goal output in the final third.
On occasions, they have appeared wasteful, with Wilson Isidor often getting flak for missing chances, notably missing a sitter vs Preston, however, there is one other Black Cats man who has, according to the stats, wasted more opportunities than the Frenchman.
Sunderland attacker Patrick Roberts ranks as Black Cats most wasteful player ahead of Wilson Isidor
Looking at Sunderland’s options this season up front, they have far more firepower up top, with Isidor providing much of that, notching a total of 12 goals this campaign, which sees him rank as the joint 3rd top scorer this season.
However, the Black Cats have arguably been wasteful this campaign, and one man at the centre of that is, surprisingly, Patrick Roberts.
The Black Cats winger, who Nick Barnes described as ‘tiring’ has scored just two league goals this season for Sunderland, from a total of 5.97xG, per WhoScored, which means that he has recorded a -3.97xG difference, the fourth worst in the league.
Isidor ranks as Sunderland’s second most wasteful player, having a -3.54xG difference to what he has scored this season.
Who are the Black Cats’ most clinical finishers
On the more positive side, one man that has been the most clinical for the Black Cats, and in fact ranks as the sixth highest in the Championship this season is Romaine Mundle, with an xG difference of 2.75, having scored more than expected.
This shows the nature of Mundle’s goalscoring, not being wasteful with the ball, and showing precision and consistency when going for goal, which was seen in his successful substitute cameo against Preston North End.
Unfortunately for Sunderland, very few fall under the same bracket as Mundle in having a positive goal to xG ratio, something that underlines the inconsistencies in front of goal for the Black Cats this season.