Sunderland writer Phil Smith outlines 'big concern' facing Black Cats heading into play-offs

Sunderland drew a blank in front of goal against Swansea City at the weekend, losing 1-0 at the Stadium of Light in a largely frustrating encounter.

As a consequence, the Black Cats have not scored from open play in any of their last three matches, and depending on the extent to which you count Trai Hume’s winning strike against Millwall as a set-piece-related goal, there is an argument to be made for Regis Le Bris’ side having failed to score from open play since they returned from the international break.

But why is Sunderland’s attacking play faltering, and how concerned should they be as they prepare to head into a play-off campaign?

What has been said about Sunderland’s attacking play?

Speaking on the latest edition of On The Whistle, the Sunderland Echo’s chief SAFC Phil Smith said: “It's a big concern for me. We did have a good chat with Le Bris about this after the game and he sort of said he was a little bit concerned, and that he kind of identified that he does think that Sunderland’s build-up play isn't right for whatever reason at the moment.

“In terms of playing out from the back, beating the opposition press, getting yourself into a position where the likes of Rigg, Roberts, Watson can break, he obviously feels that isn't quite right. So that's a big, I think, point on the training ground for him moving forward, something that needs correcting.

“The other point he made was that he has disrupted the attacking patterns on the pitch because of the rotation. So the point he made was Trai Hume moving over to left back. That obviously disrupts the triangle on the right-hand side. Chris Rigg played as the left-sided eight [against Swansea] rather than the right-sided eight, which he usually plays, so he was moved away from Roberts - and obviously Hume, Roberts, and Rigg have that little pattern going.

“Jobe obviously has played a lot with whoever the left winger is in the team, whether that's Watson, Mundle, or even Le Fée really. So I think he feels that when he puts his more ‘normal’ team out - in terms of Hume and Roberts down the right-hand side with probably Rigg when Jobe comes back in on the left-hand side to link up with whoever's playing there - I think his feeling is that you'll see things click a little bit more and there'll be a bit more familiarity and a bit more fluency. I can totally understand that, but I think it's definitely a concern that Sunderland have gone quite a few games without creating that many chances.

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“And I do think that it's a thing with the striker too - obviously it is a concern that Isidor hasn't scored in nine games, and personally, I think that he looked a little bit frustrated yesterday, not at his most threatening. Now, Le Bris actually completely disagreed with that after the game. He said that actually he felt that there was a lot of Wilson's game that he really liked, the attempts to run in behind. He felt he was doing a lot of the right things, it just didn't come off from yesterday, which I thought was an interesting view. He really did back him and he made very clear that with strikers, he feels that it can just be one little thing that can change things around and get back on the goal trail. So I think he's probably a little bit less concerned than a lot of us are about Isidor’s form.

“I think Mayenda is making a real run for that striker spot in the play-offs, but Le Bris kind of hinted afterwards that he likes Mayenda’s versatility and that he'll stick with Isidor.

“I don't think the attacking play is where it needs to be, but hopefully I've given you a little bit of insight as to why Le Bris thinks that is and why he thinks it'll be easily fixed. How reassured you are by that, I don't know. It's definitely something that needs to improve at the moment, and I think we do feel a little bit dependent on Le Fée at the moment to make some magic happen and that's not where you want to be. But let's hope that as a few more familiar faces come back into the side, things will improve. I guess time will tell.”

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