Tony Mowbray has shared his transfer opinions ahead of January’s window, suggesting a forward is needed.
Sunderland have enjoyed a pretty fruitful season so far, sitting currently in the playoff position in sixth, just four points behind Leeds United in third.
But for all of the positives, Sunderland has a clear weakness in the squad and that is up-front.
So far, neither Mason Burstow nor Nazariy Rusyn have found the back of the net for the Black Cats. Both have just a single assist to their name.
This is a huge problem for Sunderland, as having a scoring striker could be the difference between playoffs or no playoffs.
However, the good news is that Tony Mowbray is seemingly aware of the issues and is keen on resolving them.
Mowbray on the striker position
The most worrying thing is that we are nearly at the season’s halfway point and still the strikers remain goalless.
Mowbray however has been discussing this with the Sunderland Echo.
“I haven’t made any recommendations as such but we’ve done player audits: what do we need, where do we think we are, where are we strong? You can never stand still in football.
“We’ve talked about the striker position, these lads have a brilliant opportunity. If they’re not scoring a goal and they’ve all played 10, 15 games each and no goals then something is wrong and we need to address it.
“But that’s every position. If the centre-halves can’t keep a clean sheet, if the goalie keeps throwing the ball in his own net, that’s what you do constantly, you have to keep moving forward.”
Need to improve up-front
The striker position is one which Carlton Palmer also advised Sunderland to strengthen earlier this week.
The returning Eliezer Mayenda could potentially be an option however it would be unfair to place that demand on a player so young.
Therefore, it does feel inevitable that Sunderland will need to dip into the transfer market this January as a striker could be pivotal in the club reaching the playoffs.