Source: Northern_Echo
Patched-up attack underlines extent of Sunderland's problems
AS recently as December 28, Sunderland started a Premier League game with an attack comprised of Darren Bent, Asamoah Gyan and Danny Welbeck.[LNB] Four months on, and on Saturday afternoon they finished their latest top-flight fixture with another three-man attacking unit. This time, though, the three men in question were Stephane Sessegnon, a diminutive midfielder who is still to score his first goal in a Sunderland shirt, Nedum Onuoha, a full-back who has spent the last three matches slotting in at centre-half, and Craig Lynch, an untried 19-year-old making his senior debut as a second-half substitute.[LNB] If anything encapsulates the Black Cats' dramatic fall from grace in the second half of the season, it is surely the transition from one of the most potent forward formations in the Premier League to an attack that had to be seen to be believed.[LNB] There are, of course, mitigating factors, with Gyan, Welbeck and Fraizer Campbell all nursing injuries that will sideline them for the remainder of the campaign. But excuses will not diminish the potential for damage that exists between now and an end of the season that cannot come quickly enough.[LNB] Sunderland will not be relegated next month, as they boast a six-point advantage over 18th-placed Wigan Athletic with just nine points still to play for. In every other respect, though, things are going down.[LNB] The Black Cats' league position is plummeting, making their oft-stated ambition of a top-half finish look less and less likely. Morale is seeping away at an alarming rate, as evidenced by the mass exodus that accompanied Fulham's third and final goal at the weekend. And all the while, Steve Bruce's standing in the eyes of the Sunderland fans is diminished even further.[LNB] As sentiments strengthen, and dissenting voices grow louder, you get the impression this is not an irrelevant end of the season for the under-pressure boss.[LNB] "I think there's a part of us that would just like the season to end now," said a commendably honest Phil Bardsley, after Sunderland's ninth defeat in the space of 11 matches. "Our aim was always to finish in the top ten, but we're going to have to dig really deep now if we're going to do that.[LNB] "The rest of the teams in and around us have been getting results - you only have to look at Fulham. They were behind us for ages, but they're a bit ahead of us now.[LNB] "I think if we'd had a striker it would have made a difference, but we haven't so we just have to get on with it. We haven't got a striker at the club at the moment and, with the greatest respect to the lads that have come in, it was hard to see where a goal was going to come from out there.[LNB] "The lads who were playing up front are not natural goalscorers, like the players they were replacing. It's difficult for them to come in and have to play up front. It's a tough situation, but we're going to have to stick together for the last few matches and try to get some more points on the board."[LNB] Bardsley is right to highlight Sunderland's attacking inadequacies, even though by the end of another dispiriting afternoon at the Stadium of Light, problems were apparent all over the field.[LNB] In one respect, the Black Cats have been extremely unfortunate to lose all of their frontline strikers at the same time. On the other hand, however, the situation has merely emphasised the impotence of the attacking alternatives from midfield.[LNB] Everton seem to spend a chunk of most seasons striker-less, yet they boast the likes of Tim Cahill, Marouane Fellaini and Mikel Arteta, players who are perfectly comfortable pushing forward from midfield.[LNB] Sunderland can call on the likes of Steed Malbranque, a player who has now scored one goal in 99 league appearances for the club, Lee Cattermole, whose last league goal for anyone came in December 2008, and Jordan Henderson, whose two goals against Wigan last weekend still make it just four in 68 league outings during his top-flight career.[LNB] Don Hutchinson was probably the club's last midfielder capable of scoring regular goals in the Premier League, and the failings of the current crop were brutally exposed at the weekend as three excellent first-half chances went begging.[LNB] Malbranque floated a powder-puff chip wide of the target after bursting beyond the Fulham defence, Cattermole rolled a side-footed effort straight at Mark Schwarzer after a one-two with Sessegnon left him clear, Henderson skewed a half-volley miles off target after Phil Bardsley's cross had eluded the opposition defence.[LNB] When three similarly inviting opportunities presented themselves to Fulham midfielders, Gael Kakuta and Simon Davies were much more effective.[LNB] The problem is particularly pronounced when it comes to Malbranque, whose only league goal for Sunderland remains a December 2009 effort against Hull City.[LNB] The Belgian boasts a sublime first touch and a furtively creative mind. But if he does not score goals, he will never justify his place in a Premier League starting XI.[LNB] "It's a problem," admitted Bruce. "Steed's a wonderful footballer, but he should definitely score more goals. He puts them away in training, but when it gets to a game it's a different matter.[LNB] "I was reading the other day that Clint Dempsey has only just overtaken him in Fulham's all-time Premier League goalscoring charts. He got 30-odd goals down there, and if you look at his record, he was regularly chipping in with seven or eight a season for Tottenham.[LNB] "Since he's come here, the goals have dried up. With his ability, and for what he's got in the locker, his record isn't good enough. Why's that Maybe it's something in the water."[LNB] Unable to score at one end, Sunderland suffered defensive jitters at the other, another failing that has contributed to their wretched recent run.[LNB] Michael Turner failed to close down Kakuta as he dispatched Bobby Zamora's square ball for Fulham's opener, Ahmed Elmohamady failed to track Davies as he converted Steve Sidwell's pull back 16 minutes after the break, and Anton Ferdinand and Simon Mignolet got themselves into an almighty mix-up to leave Davies with a simple tap in with 17 minutes left.[LNB] "Towards the end of January, we had 13 clean sheets," said Bruce. "Since January we've had just one, and that's an issue. We'll have to address that and find the resilience that we had three months ago because the urgency to defend out there was bang average."[LNB] With their side trailing 3-0, supporters in the South-West corner resorted to entertaining themselves in the final ten minutes, belting out refrain after refrain of Bob Marley's 1980 hit "Three Little Birds".[LNB] "Don't worry about a thing, cos every little thing gonna be all right." Let's hope their optimism does not prove unfounded.[LNB]
