Sunderland bounced back from an underwhelming 0-0 stalemate away at Swansea City with an impressive 3-1 home win over Birmingham City last match, Jobe Bellingham stealing the headlines with a goal against his former boyhood club to help the Black Cats pick up three points.
Tony Mowbray’s side find themselves in the last playoff spot in the current Championship standings off the back of that victory, clinging onto sixth spot on goal difference with West Brom and Hull City breathing down their necks in the positions directly below them.
The Durham-based outfit are continuing to succeed in the second tier without an out-and-out clinical striker at this moment in time, centre-back Daniel Ballard even outscoring first-team strikers Nazariy Rusyn, Mason Burstow and Luis Semedo with two goals whilst the trio of attackers spurn chances and fire blanks with zero goals between them.
Mowbray could well unleash U21’s striker Harry Gardiner into the first-team fold as a result, the 20-year-old has been gearing up for a senior opportunity for some time now with goal after goal for the Black Cats at youth level.
Gardiner’s numbers this season
Described as “ruthless” by Sunderland U21s boss Graeme Murty earlier this year after a Premier League 2 contest, Gardiner could well be just the merciless striker the Black Cats desire to lead the line in the Championship.
Gardiner has five goals from eight games in total so far this season, which included a mini purple patch of netting in three successive contests to boost his team.
This blistering personal goalscoring run saw Gardiner nominated for Premier League 2 Player of the Month for September, recognised for his exceptional contributions at U21 level.
It’s led to shouts for the 20-year-old to be considered in Mowbray’s first-team plans, the young attacker maturing even more on loan away at non-league South Shields recently to get a taste of senior action.
The Sunderland manager could well be tempted to throw the deadly attacker into the deep end of the Championship soon, especially if his current crop of Black Cats strikers continue to misfire.
Sunderland first-team strikers this season
Sunderland has displayed the importance of the collective unit this season so far, with goals spread out amongst the group instead of a lethal forward taking all the limelight.
Yet, there will be mounting worries if the likes of Rusyn, Burstow and Semedo continue to perform to their current standard for much longer – not a single goal hitting the back of the net from any of these young attackers in the second tier to date.
| Sunderland’s forward line – 2023/24 | |
|---|---|
| Harry Gardiner | 5 goals from 8 games |
| Rusyn, Burstow & Semedo | 0 goals from a combined 29 games |
| Sourced by Transfermarkt | |
The overall performances from the first-team strikers at the Stadium of Light haven’t inspired confidence either, away from obvious grievances surrounding their ineffectiveness in front of goal.
Burstow – who is on loan from Chelsea – lost all four of his aerial duels up against Blackburn Rovers earlier in the season as per Sofascore which saw the Black Cats win 3-1 on their travels irrespective of their underperforming young loanee.
Mowbray could well begin to have his patience tested with the current crop of attackers he has at his disposal in the senior side, looking instead to the U21s and to Gardiner to give him a much-deserved first-team berth to see how he copes under similar pressures.
