Phil Parkinson can no longer point to the underlying data - Sunderland's problems at both ends are growing

Sunderland’s problems, however, can be summed-up relatively simply: they don’t create enough chances to put teams out of sight, and are now failing to keep teams at an arms’ length as they were earlier in the campaign.

Those issues once again came to the fore at Fleetwood Town, with the Black Cats failing to really trouble Jayson Leutwiler while succumbing to a sustained spell of pressure from the hosts as they sought a leveller.

Phil Parkinson’s side were able to ride those storms earlier in the season, but are now struggling to keep teams at bay.

They have just one clean sheet in their last eight games in all competitions and, given their lack of firepower at the other end, results are naturally harder to come by.

Concerns over this are nothing new, of course. Fans and on-lookers have long expressed that Sunderland’s lack of a cutting edge in the final third would catch up with them, and that the defence who looked watertight in the early weeks of the campaign could not have the burden of responsibility placed upon them for the entire campaign.

Parkinson, however, remained confident things would come. He pointed to Sunderland’s high xG (expected goals) and low xGA (expected goals against) tallies and suggested they would ensure the Black Cats would be there or thereabouts come May.

But those tallies are now slipping, and the under-pressure Sunderland boss may no longer be able to lean back on the underlying data.

Earlier in the season, Sunderland were consistently hitting an xG of around two goals-per-game. They were expected to score more than two at Charlton and Gillingham, and against Ipswich Town.

The fact that they didn’t was put down to finishing, with the onus firmly placed on the Black Cats’ forward players. The chances were coming and if that continued then Sunderland would soon hit the goal trail, was Parkinson’s belief.

But now, the chances are drying up.

Other than their goal, Sunderland mustered just one shot on target against Fleetwood and failed to seriously trouble Jayson Leutwiler.

Just one of their 17 crosses yielded anything close to a chance and their goal was in part down to hesitation on the part of the home stopper.

There has been a sharp decline in Sunderland’s xG in their last three games, with the Black Cats expected to score less than one against MK Dons, Doncaster and Fleetwood.

That has dove-tailed with a rise in xGA too – so simply put, the Wearsiders are now creating less and conceding more chances.

The data that Parkinson has so often pointed to is now turning, and painting a picture of a side who are struggling at the back and failing to create anything meaningful in the final third.

Some context is required, of course. Doncaster are a side who will be in the play-off picture come the end of the season, while Fleetwood – despite Joey Barton’s ‘David v Golliath’ narrative – are a side packed with quality and who have spent heavily in recent years.

But something now will have to change.

Parkinson can no longer point to positive trends in the data and now must find a successful formula.

Otherwise, the pressure is only going to mount.

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