Phil Smith's Sunderland AFC verdict: Frustrating night underlines three key January transfer priorities

Sunderland have played some dizzying, exhilarating football over the course of 2023 but here they ended it with something of a whimper.

We have spoken so often this season about Sunderland dominating the ball on the road but struggling to turn it into goals. Here, they struggled to even turn it into chances. They ended the game strongly and with Rotherham United on the ropes but that the hosts posted a significantly better expected-goals tally despite seeing just 30% of the ball told its story. Rotherham were compact and looked to slow the game down, take time out of it where they could and target set pieces as an avenue to goal. They did it well, and yet Sunderland made it easy for them with a ponderous performance that magnified their struggles in the final third and a growing dependence on individual magic from Jack Clarke.

Michael Beale fairly pointed to the chaotic festive schedule as some mitigation for the lethargy many of his players seemed to play with, and also praised them for their response to his criticism at the half-time interval. After the spirited response to that Coventry City defeat at Hull City, the new head coach clearly feels there are positives to take into the new year and of course that is true - Sunderland are two points off the top six and it is all to play for through the second half of the season. 25 games into the campaign, though, it is also fair to say that there are clear recurring issues that have to be addressed if Sunderland are not to fall short in their push for the top six.

This is a team that can thrill and sparkle at their best but perhaps understandably given their inexperience and youthfulness, there is an inconsistency to their performances. They can beat anyone on their day, but they can also lose to anyone on their day. On balance of chances, they should have lost this one even accounting for their late rally.

The season-long struggle to make an impact in the opposition penalty box is arguably worsening, Beale again going without a striker in the first half here and seeing his side fail to register a single shot inside the penalty box. Mason Burstow's arrival at the break at least offered his side a focal point, but it did not lead to a flurry of chances. Sunderland's hew head coach says he has some ideas to loosen Sunderland up in the final third, and has made it clear that he feels they are guilty of overplaying at times. With very limited training time due to the schedule, opportunities to put this idea into practice on the training ground have been sparse.

Some level of January reshuffling is also now clearly a necessity. Luis Hemir and Eliezer Mayenda were added to the group as long-term investments and there was also some expectation that it would take time for Nazariy Rusyn to adapt to a new environment. WIth Rusyn yet to feature under Beale, however, the need for reinforcement is obvious and at this point it feels as if Burstow's return to Chelsea might be the most obvious way to free up space and funds to return to the market. If Burstow's game time is going to continue to be as limited as it has been over the last month, then it might also be the best thing for him. The challenge is that having already played for Chelsea this season, he cannot go back out on loan to another club.

This draw at Rotherham also most obviously demonstrated the importance of not losing Clarke to the Premier League in the January window, given the extent to which he has become the focal point of this side. Remarkably, the last time another Sunderland player scored away from home was when Dan Ballard rose to head home a corner in the early stages of the win over Sheffield Wednesday in September. While there is an understanding that losing Clarke to the riches of the top tier may be an inevitability this summer if Sunderland do not win promotion, to lose him now would potentially be ruinous to the club's top-six aspirations.

It has also become increasingly clear that this team at this stage cannot afford to lose the guile and experience of Alex Pritchard. His introduction again was a catalyst for improvement, and though there was a large slice of luck in Clarke's goal it was no coincidence that it was initially sparked by another dangerous ball into the box from the attacking midfielder. Sunderland's hierarchy were happy to move Pritchard on in the summer and there is a clear desire to give more time to the club's young attacking options, but so many of those clearly benefit from Pritchard's presence alongside them as they adjust to the intensity of the second tier.

The away end chanted Pritchard's name for the first fifteen minutes of the second half, seeing clearly how much his ability to lift the tempo was needed. 2023 has been a year of huge highs for Sunderland and the talent in this squad means 2024 is a prospect to be relished. This frustrating end draw also underlined that the search for the right balance between winning and development is an ongoing balance. Sunderland will no doubt use the January window to add more young talent to their squad, but there must also be a recognition of what is needed in the here and now.