Sunderland lost 4-2 at Southampton on Saturday, with the spotlight being shone on the playing squad once again.
Sunderland fielded the youngest ever starting XI that the Championship has ever seen against Southampton, with an average age of just 20.8 years.
The 16-year-old Chris Rigg started but was branded ‘incredibly naive’ after giving away a penalty, whilst 18-year-old Jobe Bellingham also started and showed some dodgy defending for the opening goal.
Although Bellingham scored a stunning goal in the second half to draw Sunderland level, Southampton easily got back in front, with Joe Rothwell scoring twice in quick succession after coming off the bench.
Sunderland paid for lack of experience
Giving his assessment of the 4-2 defeat vs Southampton, EFL pundit Ali Maxwell said on the Not The Top 20 Podcast:
“Sunderland with this inexperience, probably didn’t manage the game very well at 2-2, because they got done on the break twice, so open, the sort of man-to-man out of possession style that they play which can make it very hard for the opposition… on this occasion, just didn’t. So it’s easy to point at inexperience here, from a Sunderland point of view.”
Interim boss Mike Dodds is starting to come under increasing pressure for his poor team selections and tactics, though he only has the players he can work with.
Injuries certainly aren’t doing Sunderland any favours right now either, and whilst Dodds will take some of the blame, much of it lies with the ownership, and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman.
Kristjaan Speakman has made huge Sunderland error
Sunderland have a very clear identity and a very clear strategy in the transfer market.
And whilst they’ve worked wonders with the likes of Jack Clarke, also unearthing talents in Pierre Ekwah, Dan Ballard, Trai Hume and others, there’s just to many players that have failed to have much of an impact.
That, combined with a distinct lack of experience in the team, has turned Sunderland into a very poor Championship outfit right now.
Last summer, selling Danny Batth seemed to kickstart a calamity of mistakes in the transfer market for Sunderland, who once again failed to sign a striker.
Instead of signing a tried and tested name who could guarantee goals, Speakman and Sunderland gambled on the likes of Nazariy Rusyn, Mason Burstow, and Luis Hemir, who have three Championship goals between them.
The Black Cats again failed to sign a striker in January, despite trying to sign Kieffer Moore, and then decided to offload Alex Pritchard to Birmingham City for just £100,000.
Pritchard was in form and firing at the time of his sale, with his exit taking a huge amount of balance and quality out of the side; against Southampton, Dodds could really have done with a capable no.10 on the pitch, with Rigg having struggled.
Sunderland are in an unfamiliar position now; losing games, with another manager in place, and plenty of rumblings among fans about the state of the club.
A bit of experience in the XI could really work wonders on the pitch but Sunderland just don’t have it right now, and they have to hope they have enough quality to see out the season.
In the summer, Speakman and co will have hopefully learned from their lessons; they should think twice before selling a player because of his age, and consider signings players who are a little bit older than their usual, but who can add experience and stability.