Sunderland man blasts attackers after fifth defeat on the bounce
Former striker Brian Deane has blasted Sunderland’s attackers as the club continues to slip away from the playoffs.
The Black Cats suffered their fifth consecutive defeat on Tuesday night as Leicester overcame Mike Dodds‘ side.
Jamie Vardy’s strike proved to be the only goal of the game at the Stadium of Light with the 1-0 defeat causing Sunderland to slip 10 points away from the top six.
Problems can be pointed out all over the pitch for Dodd’s side with fans having little hope the run of form is going to turn around anything soon. However, Deane has pointed towards Sunderland’s poor attacking quality as a big reason why they find themselves in this situation.
Sunderland’s attack ‘isn’t good enough’
Speaking to Sunderland Nation Deane said: “I saw Sunderland playing Rotherham last year and there was such a lack of a focal point and it was a problem, because it was an easy game at the back for Rotherham – so it’s not just this season.
“It’s really funny because when I was doing my pro license, we were doing a lot of work on stats around this, and how something that’s not in fashion comes back into fashion again.
“Someone like myself, I have the look of an old-fashioned centre forward. When Erling Haaland came to Man City, nobody knew how to deal with him, and it’s the subtleties of having the pace and movement as a no.9.
The Premier League has lost the great defenders of the past, and Haaland has exploited that.
“It’s really funny because when I was doing my pro license, we were doing a lot of work on stats around this, and how something that’s not in fashion comes back into fashion again.
“Someone like myself, I have the look of an old-fashioned centre forward. When Erling Haaland came to Man City, nobody knew how to deal with him, and it’s the subtleties of having the pace and movement as a no.9.
“The Premier League has lost the great defenders of the past, and Haaland has exploited that.
“Having a lightweight front three doesn’t cut it. I think that things are quite simple, and we are trying to complicate it.
“Nobody wants to have a big centre forward and play it long, moaning that it’s just rubbish, but we should talk about winning games not the style of play. That seems to be the thing that people are forgetting.”
Sunderland attackers need to step up
The Black Cats have had issues with their attacking player’s output all season. Jack Clarke has essentially carried the side throughout this campaign with the winger sitting on 15 goals and four assists.
It was evident that Sunderland was overreliant on the 23-year-old and since his injury, this has only exposed this further.
Nazariy Rusyn has only scored twice this season, while Luis Semedo is yet to find the net in 18 appearances for the club.
As a result, Sunderland has only scored three goals in their past five games and only once since Clarke’s injury.
