How Romaine Mundle compares to departed Jack Clarke at Sunderland

Jack Clarke was perceived as the messiah at Sunderland but the way Romaine Mundle is performing indicates they’re not missing their big summer departure.

In fact, looking at Mundle’s impressive dribbling stats – 15 out of 25 successful – suggests they could even be better off in Clarke’s absence. Clarke joined Sunderland with the Black Cats languishing in League One.

The former Leeds United and Tottenham winger initially struggled to break into the starting XI under Lee Johnson and then Alex Neil. It wasn’t until Sunderland’s promotion to the Championship that Clarke became a regular. Over the course of just over two seasons, Clarke established himself as a fan favourite racking up 25 goals and 17 assists.

His departure was unsurprising for a player of his calibre, but the circumstances surrounding his move to Ipswich Town led to some unrest among fans. However, the Black Cats appear to have pre-planned this scenario perfectly and Mundle has hit the ground running this season.

Here we look at the key statistics behind Clarke’s first five Championship games for Sunderland and Mundle’s five league starts following Clarke’s departure.

Delivering quality balls into the box is a crucial part of wingplay. While Clarke is known for his tendency to cut in and shoot, surprisingly, he didn’t complete a single cross in his first five matches – and at a time when target forwards Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms could have benefited from his service. But Mundle also trumps Clarke for crosses and successful passes.

The former Standard Liege man boasted 5/24 (21 per cent) in his first five outings whilst Clarke had a zero per cent dribble success rate at the same stage of his Sunderland career, and while Clarke had a pass accuracy of 66 per cent, Mundle has managed an impressive 82 per cent.

The data clearly suggests Sunderland may well have an improvement on Clarke – at barely a tenth of the price that they got for him.