Phil Smith considers the reasons for Sunderland’s notable decline in performance and what can be corrected going forward. Sunderland’s season has collapsed in the last few weeks, with six straight losses placing the team as near the relegation zone as the top six. What went wrong, and what can be done to improve the situation going forward—more importantly, going into next season—is examined here.
INJURIES
Sunderland’s poor injury luck has been a major contributing factor to their recent success. Mike Dodds, in particular, has been unable to use both of his first-choice wingers and at least one of his established central defenders for the last four games. Sunderland’s two first-choice left backs have missed the majority of the season, one of their best players since Christmas, and they could play QPR this weekend with Leo Hjelde as their only available center-half.
Playing against teams that have been supported by parachute payments, as has been the case for the past week or so, is a big ask for Sunderland, who fielded the youngest starting XI in recent Championship history last Saturday.
Sunderland can only take partial credit for their current situation because, of course, their decline was already beginning to take hold before the last round of injuries.
How can Sunderland fix it?
As he attempts to reverse a poor run of form, Dodds will believe he simply needs a little bit of luck, but right now his selection problems are getting worse rather than better. Although injuries are a natural part of the game, particularly with a schedule as demanding as the Championship, the club will undoubtedly want to consider what they could have done differently given the severity of the problems at hand. It certainly emphasises that luck is a necessary component of success.
SQUAD DEPTH
The fact that the team lacks depth this season to sustain a top-six challenge is one problem that the injuries have highlighted. Only Jobe Bellingham has managed to make a name for himself in the squad out of all the players that have joined since the end of the last campaign.
How can Sunderland fix it?
Few would want Sunderland to give up the strategy that created one of the most entertaining and dynamic teams they have ever seen. Providing the top young players with regular playing opportunities is just as important as being able to sign and retain them.
However, it’s interesting to look back and examine the League One team that earned promotion since by the end of the season, the team’s core had accumulated more and more experience. It makes sense to try to bring in a few players who are prepared to compete at the Championship level, if Jack Clarke decides to go this summer, as it appears likely that he will. The team’s failure to advance this season can be attributed, in part, to the fact that their efforts to recruit over the previous two windows have not yielded positive results. This applies to either Kristjaan Speakman, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, or both.
GOALSCORING ISSUES
The inability of Sunderland to convert game domination into goals was perhaps their biggest problem throughout the opening part of the season and the reason behind Tony Mowbray’s eventual dismissal. The underlying facts all pointed to Sunderland as one of the top six or eight teams in the division, but the results did not always match the performance because they could not score goals consistently (except from Jack Clarke).
The task of replacing Ross Stewart and Amad was extremely difficult for Sunderland; although the former missed most of the previous season due to injury, his goal contributions were vital to the team’s final point total. Due to the fact that their budget is still much smaller than that of many of their competitors for promotion, they have forced to concentrate on locating younger players or forwards from markets with lower fees and pay. While it’s far too soon to make a firm judgement on Luis Hemir and Eliezer Mayenda’s Sunderland careers due to their youth and inexperience, Mason Burstow’s season-long loan has not been beneficial to either side. Although Nazariy Rusyn has occasionally displayed promise, his performances have been uneven due to the language barrier and the natural difficulties of making such a significant shift from Ukraine. It’s also reasonable to argue that he might have a more open future in the long run.
Although Sunderland’s attacking play hasn’t been as effective as it was in the first half of the season, that has changed recently. More than anything, this problem kept Sunderland from moving forward, and the opportunity to fix it in the January window was lost.
How could Sunderland make it right?
Sunderland will just have to review its choices in the summer transfer market, even though they might be superior for their inaugural campaign the following year. Is it possible to use some of the additional budget in the event of a big player sale to acquire a more experienced player, either on a loan or a permanent deal? Although this team still has a lot of potential, it needs more innovation.
MANAGERIAL CHANGE
With the current roster of injured players, could Mowbray have salvaged Sunderland’s play-off hopes? Regardless of some of the issues behind his resignation, the decision to replace him has not aged well. This is probably not the case. Midway through the season, Sunderland was unable to sign one of its top targets, and Michael Beale turned out to be a poor decision both on and off the pitch. The alteration did not only not solve Sunderland’s persistent problems in the closing third, but it also made them look less dangerous and offered no defensive reinforcement to make up for it. In his absence, Mowbray’s abilities as a motivator and communicator have also come to light.
The way Sunderland has performed since Mowbray left and the ultimately bad procedure that was used to replace him have done enormous damage to the organization’s credibility as a “evidence led” operation. A thorough evaluation of the decision-making process ought to stem from the season’s second half collapse. You can read our lengthy column from last month, in which we discussed this in detail, here.
The hiring of the club’s next head coach is crucial for reassuring supporters of the team’s aspirations and demonstrating that a forward-thinking strategy is in place.
Even while it won’t directly affect the team’s performance on the pitch, there is still much work to be done in mending the bond with the fans that was harmed by the FA Cup derby debacle and other off-field problems in important areas.
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