Sunderland lost their fourth game of the season in the Championship this afternoon after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Swansea at the Liberty Stadium, and Tony Mowbray will surely be frustrated with the results and some individual performances.
It is now the Black Cats’ fourth consecutive game without a win, which has led to their fall into 11th in the table, and the struggles with injury problems in the forward line are further presenting themselves as the weeks go on.
Both Ellis Simms and Ross Stewart are sidelined with injuries, so Mowbray has been deploying Elliot Embleton and Alex Pritchard in the centre-forward positions, and it’s safe to say that it’s not working out.
Despite having equal possession (50%), taking more shots (11 v 10) and winning more duels (44 v 40) than their opponents today, Sunderland failed to take their chances and be clinical with their shots, with only three of their 11 attempts getting on target.
In the first half, the hosts dominated the possession (56%) and found the back of Sunderland’s net comfortably, with Oliver Cooper opening the scoring in the 13th minute and Harry Darling making it 2-0 in the final moments before the half-time whistle was blown.
In the second half, Sunderland came out fighting, with Jack Clarke scoring in the 53rd minute to try and inspire a comeback for the visitors. However, it wasn’t Patrick Roberts’ day as he was hooked in the 64th minute after losing the ball every three touches with his performance.
Unfortunately, Mowbray’s side were unable to conjure up the creativity to pick up even a point from the game, and at full-time another defeat was tallied for Sunderland.
One player who let Mowbray down in today’s clash was Alex Pritchard, struggling to make his presence known in the most advanced role on the pitch, which ultimately cost his side the game in south Wales.
Should Sunderland sign a free agent striker?
The 29-year-old ace failed to register a single shot on or off target despite being played as a centre-forward, lost five of his six duels, misplaced 100% of his crosses and lost possession of the ball 11 times from 47 touches (once every 4.2 touches) before he was replaced by Amad Diallo in the 77th minute.
Pritchard’s performance should finally ring alarm bells for the Sunderland manager and the result should inspire sporting director Kristjaan Speakman to explore the free agent market once again, although there are reports that the club are intending to do so.
If Sunderland are to have any hope of securing a place in the play-offs, they need to add more depth to the attacking options in their team as the Championship table can very quickly change. Luckily there are still 33 opportunities for the Wearsiders to fix their attacking problems, but they must act fast if their woes aren’t to further escalate.
