Moyes strikes on a winning formula for Sunderland

The Black Cats moved off the bottom of the Premier League table, and within three points of safety, after brushing aside Hull City 3-0 on Saturday.

Jermain Defoe bagged his 150th Premier League goal before a brace from strike partner Victor Anichebe sealed victory at a buoyant Stadium of Light.

With Duncan Watmore also adding pace and legs to the attack, Sunderland have found a system that suits, with back-to-back wins over Bournemouth and the Tigers.

When asked if Sunderland were building a new identity with two up front, Moyes added: “It could be.

“I think we will not be able to do it in all games.

“There’ll be games when we can use big Vic a little bit, like you’ve seen, off the sides, a centre-forward drifting wide and not necessarily directly through the middle.

“Because Victor can do those roles, he gives us a bit of an outlet.

“But I think, more importantly, it’s just that we’ve got someone else we can hit up front, another type of forward player up front, whether it’s a 4-4-2 or we play him wide in a 4-3-3 or whatever.

“We need to try and get that, get some more support and give us a better chance of winning.”

Defoe and Anichebe have struck up an instant understanding and Moyes says the rapport between them is strong.

He added: “Victor actually said to him ‘I can’t believe you’ve scored 150 goals...they’re all rubbish!’.

“They’ve got that sort of rapport at the moment, they’re having a good go together.

“It was a great finish by Jermain.

“The way he got himself faced up one versus one and eventually got himself a free look at the goal.

“Most of the times when he gets that, you know where it’s going to end up.

“It’s a landmark for him, and it has to be special.

“It’s a brilliant thing, and only special people who know how to hit the back of the net know how hard that is to do.”

The Stadium of Light was plunged into darkness in the 50th minute after a power cut, with play suspended for 10 minutes until the main floodlights came back on.

Moyes added: “Maybe it was fitting that – I thought the crowd were good, they kept us going and helped an awful lot at times. That played a part.

“Sometimes it’s in adversity when things are down, that’s sometimes where you rally better and do better.

“To be fair, we kept at it.

“We were actually dipping a little bit before we scored the second goal and thankfully the second goal settled us down a bit more.”