Sunderland’s defeat against Middlesbrough highlighted a number of key talking points, most notably Sunderland's lack of a plan following Ross Stewart's injury. What better time to reflect on the state of the current squad, and look at the options going forward in Stewart's absence?
Ross Stewart's thigh injury will keep him out of action for a minimum of 4-8 weeks, although it will more realistically probably be 12. Of course, when he returns he won't be match fit straight away and may take even longer to get back up to speed in the Championship. The season breaks for the World Cup in 10 weeks time on 12 November, when Stewart will still be injured, so he won't be on the pitch until 10 December against West Brom.
All summer, us fans had been crying out for Kristjaan Speakman to sign depth in the striker position. After all, what professional football team would play a two-striker formation, and have just two recognized senior strikers in the squad? Speakman would argue that the likes of Leon Dajaku and new boy Amad Diallo can both play up front if needed, but both of those players are naturally wide men. It was obvious that we needed someone with a bit of physicality up front, who could come into the side to replace Ellis Simms or Ross Stewart.
We were extremely lucky last season that Stewart was able to play almost every minute of every game. Even when he was fatigued and not finding the net, he was running himself into the ground and contributing on the pitch. There seemed to be an arrogance around the club that he would be able to replicate that this season, hence their bizarre hesitance to sign another striker after the arrival of Ellis Simms early in the window. A Ross Stewart injury has been on the cards though. Football is a contact sport, and any player will pick up knocks and bruises in a long, gruelling season in the EFL. Every time he goes down, there is an audible intake of breath from Sunderland fans as the physio runs onto the pitch. Apparently Nathan Broadhead didn’t come as he wasn’t guaranteed to be first choice. Well, he certainly would have had his chance on Monday. You just have to look at the games Broadhead won for us coming off the bench, where we otherwise would have lost or drawn. This year we don’t have anyone like that to come on.
Stewart’s injury in Monday’s warm up left Tony Mowbray looking at the bench, where there was no like-for-like replacement. That meant he had to bring nippy winger Patrick Roberts into the starting 11, and it’s fair to say that Roberts is not the same type of player as Stewart! The ex-Man City man of course didn’t have the height or strength of Stewart, but also didn’t provide the intense pressing and direct running of Stewart that so often helps SAFC win the ball back high up the pitch, and create space in between the lines. This is no dig at Roberts, it is simply not his game. But with no options from his subs bench, Mowbray was forced to play him as a makeshift forward.
It is clear that Ellis Simms, at just 21, struggled to lead the line by himself. He suits being next to Stewart, who could do his running for him and allow Simms to peel off and get into the box. But in a one-striker system, Simms’ holdup play just wasn’t working and he never looked a threat with the ball at his feet. It’s not his fault, at 21 he’s pretty much the same age as these young lads who came in at the end of the window, and also has never played in the Championship before. He doesn’t have the same work rate and athleticism at Stewart, which is understandable – Ross Stewart is one of the best strikers in the league and a massive physical presence up front for us.
Sunderland have started the season really well, and surprised me with how they’ve managed the step-up in quality and intensity after so many years in League One. But Alex Neil (and now Tony Mowbray) has chosen almost the exact same starting lineup for each league game this season. While this is partly down to how well each player is playing, I’m sure it is also because of a lack of options. We saw the drop-off in quality in that Carabao Cup game against Sheffield Wednesday. It was a team made up of our second-string players, but would you trust that team to compete in the Championship if the first team were hit by injuries? Jack Diamond is the only other player who’s played up front for us this season, and looked pretty bright in the Sheffield Wednesday game. But he isn’t Championship-ready, and even if Mowbray wanted to try him out, we’ve sent one of our few attacking options out on loan to Lincoln.
With Ross Stewart looking set to be injured until the end of the World Cup break, and Dennis Cirkin out for even longer with a hamstring tear, I expect Mowbray to change to a four at the back system, with one striker. Ellis Simms will now be expected to start every game, regardless of form or fatigue levels. But even with a one-striker formation, we have no cover on the bench. Jack Clarke has played up front previously, during spells at Leeds, Stoke and QPR, but we’ve never seen him as a striker for Sunderland. He’s thrived at wing-back, and despite Cirkin’s injury I hope he isn’t played as a full-back, and rather a left-winger.
In Cirkin’s absence I wonder if it is now time to bring Bailey Wright back into the side, and play the versatile Luke O’Nien at left back. Alternatively, we may see Aji Alese given a chance at left back. He’s never played there before, and has looked raw in the glimpses we’ve seen of him, but he is left footed and so may add some balance, should we move to a back four.
Fans were given the exciting boost of a quadruple signing, with Jewison Bennette, Edouard Michut, Abdoullah Ba and Amad Diallo all arriving and being paraded around the pitch before deadline day. But against Boro, only Amad was named on the bench – the other three were given more time to settle, and adapt to the English culture. I also expect that the plan was to let the foreign lads go home over the international break. While a PSG wonderkid, several youth internationals and a winger Manchester United spent £37 million on are all very promising, and I’m sure it will turn out to be smart business, how long will these starlets need before we see them in the first team? In our current situation, with a new manager coming in and a threadbare squad, I would argue that we needed players who could have came in straight away and added some Championship nous to a very young and inexperienced squad.
The future looks bright on Wearside, but the last thing this club needs is a relegation dogfight this season. The first 11 is undoubtedly talented, but when you look a little deeper Mowbray is very short on options. It would be a disaster if, for example, a certain Scottish striker would get injured and miss a large chunk of the season. If only we’d had a full summer transfer window to sign some cover.
