Before Wednesday’s matchup with Sheffield United, who are at the top of the table, Sunderland defender Chris Mepham has called on his team to be more clinical in front of goal. Similar to their visitors on New Year’s Day, Sunderland has lost straight games over the Christmas break, and Sunday’s 1-0 loss to struggling Stoke City was a crushing blow. Regis Le Bris’ team dominated at the Bet365 Stadium but was unable to find the opening goal and ultimately gave up in the 92nd minute.
Although they have only won three of their last 12 games, Sunderland has been the superior team in the majority of them, at least when it comes to both boxes. Wearside has frequently discussed the lack of a prominent No. 9, and there is undoubtedly growing annoyance that opportunities are not being taken advantage of.
Mepham, an accomplished defender, told the Sunderland Echo, “We create really good chances.” “After about twenty shots, I believe the guys were saying that it’s difficult to leave without scoring today [against Stoke].” It demonstrates once further that we are generating opportunities. On that day, however, another team will be more brutal. We simply need to be more clinical, in my opinion. Obviously, that comes from training, upholding our standards.”
Mepham, an accomplished defender, told the Sunderland Echo, “We create really good chances.” “After about twenty shots, I believe the guys were saying that it’s difficult to leave without scoring today [against Stoke].” It demonstrates once further that we are generating opportunities. On that day, however, another team will be more brutal. We simply need to be more clinical, in my opinion. Obviously, that comes from training, upholding our standards.”
A strong defensive, like Burnley, Leeds, and United have occasionally displayed, would make a misfiring frontline less difficult; nevertheless, Sunderland has let up more goals than all three of the aforementioned teams combined. They nearly always need at least two goals to win when they have a clean sheet in ten, which is no small accomplishment when facing more formidable Championship defences.
Those concerns were clear at Bramall Lane just over a month ago, with Sunderland struggling to find the breakthrough before Tom Davies stabbed home an 83rd-minute winner. Le Bris’ team has lost this type of match far too often, but Mepham wants to change that on Wednesday.
Regarding his team’s defensive problems, he continued, “It’s often a set play, a second ball, a second phase from set play.” Again, the fact that we aren’t being sliced open is a good thing. On the other hand, it’s a crucial aspect of the game. To make it extremely tough for teams to score goals, I believe we need to regain that resilience. I hope we can return to that.
United has had a difficult holiday season, as Wednesday’s trip to Sunderland will be their third straight matchup with a Championship promotion rival. Chris Wilder’s team has been overburdened by injuries and appeared worn out in both Sunday’s draw with West Brom and Wednesday’s loss to Burnley, but they are still in the running for promotion, at least for the time being. Burnley will have the opportunity to move up to second place if they defeat Stoke City at home earlier in the day. Leeds, the league leaders, will also be playing on New Year’s Day, but even though they have been dominant at home, their encounter with Blackburn Rovers, who defeated them 1-0 at Ewood Park last month, won’t be easy.
The Championship promotion race is expected to be another wild day, but United will only be concerned with their own performance.
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