Major injury blow is hampering Sunderland's season but this is why they have the edge on Stoke City - Stephen Elliott

Against Rotherham in midweek and then again at Coventry on Saturday, that main outlet at the top of the park was a huge miss. Especially given the physical size of both Rotherham and Coventry’s centre-backs.

It puts so much pressure on the likes of Patrick Roberts, Amad Diallo and Jack Clarke to perform.

I like Joe Gelhardt, and it was great to see him break his duck on Tuesday at Rotherham, but he is a young lad still learning his trade at senior level and physically he is up against it week in week out against big strong centre-backs.

I hope it won’t dent his confidence as having played in that position, I know what it is like when things are not quite falling for you and you feel like you are fighting heavyweights all the time.

There may be a bit of tiredness within the squad too and that has most likely affected the last couple of games against teams with a lot of big players.

On Saturday, against Coventry, I felt the team actually played okay but Coventry were very astute and savvy with how they approached and managed the game.

Although Sunderland had the majority of possession, Coventry knew there was only one way that Sunderland were going to break them down. Because of this they were happy to sit in and close the space out in front of their goal and basically stifled any decent service into Gelhardt.

When Coventry did get the ball back they broke quick and Sunderland were often a bit exposed. Obviously having, who in my opinion is the best forward in the championship, Viktor Gyokeres in their team they are a huge threat when they counter quick.

I spoke last week of maybe having to take a different approach to games as it seems teams are starting to work out how to put a halt to Sunderland’s free flowing attacking game.

This is easier said than done as there is an obvious lack of physical presence in the attacking areas for Sunderland and because of this there are only so many options available to the manager.

With there being no midweek fixture, it may give Tony Mowbray an opportunity to try some new ideas out on the training pitch.

I’m not sure what he will do but I feel Luke O’Nien needs to be in the team. He is a player that can mix it up physically, and when he is there it allows others a bit more freedom to express themselves. The QPR game comes to mind when I thought he was outstanding.

With Alex Neil coming back to town with Stoke City I’m sure Sunderland supporters will be extra keen to get back to winning ways. Stoke will be hopeful to get some consistency in their results as they have been very hit and miss.

With them having an FA Cup game on Wednesday against Brighton it may give Sunderland an edge with the longer break.