Sunderland may be challenging at the top of the table right now, but it’s clear they have a real issue putting the ball in the back of the net.
After a blistering start to the season, Regis Le Bris’ side have now won just one of their last eight games and have started to lose pace in the Championship title race.
Sunderland have been particularly poor in front of goal of late, with just four goals in their last five matches, three of which have come from wingers rather than their forwards.
And now, with Tommy Watson out injured for two months, that’s another source of goals that has immediately dried up for Le Bris. So, he needs a proper solution, and fast.
Regis Le Bris is happy to play more regularly in order to iron out issues
Speaking to the press ahead of this weekend’s game against Swansea City (via the Sunderland YouTube channel), Le Bris was asked about this issue and what he can do to change it, and sadly, his answer will leave some fans feeling short-changed.
“The reality is the game. So the more games you play, the more you can gain experience with an immediate result. When you train, it’s a little bit different. We use video analysis a lot,” he said.
By the sounds of it, aside from a little bit of video work in training, Le Bris’ masterplan to get the Sunderland squad firing again is to simply keep playing matches and hope things turn around thanks to the various lessons they learn from the experiences.
Still, Le Bris tried to look on the positive side of it, too, adding: “It’s really important as well to reinforce what we are doing well. We did well to unbalance the opponents.
“Now it’s a question of connection, with the players who cross and the player who can receive these crosses. We just have to adjust this final connection and the best way to improve this is to play again.”
Let’s hope Le Bris has more of a strategy going on behind the scenes, because this idea of trial and error and hoping something changes in time could prove very costly indeed.
- READ MORE: Patrick Roberts admits Sunderland fans are right to criticise him but he has a plan to change that
Sunderland strikers have to start delivering soon
The fact of the matter is, Sunderland do not have a consistent goalscorer they can rely on. Wilson Isidor looked to be just that at the start of the season, but he’s now gone four games without a goal.
The Sunderland fans are rightly starting to question Isidor’s performances and his output, and in our predicted lineup for Sunderland ahead of the trip to Swansea, we suggested the Frenchman should now be dropped.
Aside from Isidor, Sunderland have Aaron Connolly who is barely being given a chance, while goals are mostly coming from the likes of Patrick Roberts and Tommy Watson lately.
Now, Le Bris will need his strikers to get back on track, and will want to see more contributions from the likes of Chris Rigg and Jobe Bellingham again, or it could end up being a busy January transfer window for the Black Cats.