IN his first press conference following Jermain Defoe’s arrival from Toronto FC, Sunderland head coach Gus Poyet expressed confidence that the signing of the former England international would enable the club’s other strikers to “raise their game”.
In the ten games since, Connor Wickham, Steven Fletcher and Danny Graham boast the grand total of one goal between them. If that’s raising their game, goodness knows how bad they must have been previously.
Wickham’s first-half header against Burnley is the only goal scored by one of Defoe’s fellow strikers since the turn of the year, and is one of only three league goals scored by Wickham in his 26 appearances this season.
Fletcher’s four goals came in two matches against Stoke and Crystal Palace, so he has failed to score in the other 19 league games in which he has appeared. Graham has gone 23 matches in all competitions without breaking his Black Cats duck.
The trio’s combined record is atrocious, and goes a long towards explains why, for the second season running, Sunderland head into the second half of March desperately battling against the drop.
Admittedly, their current position, four points clear of the drop zone, is a marked improvement on the same time last year, when they found themselves in the bottom three, but having signed Defoe in the hope that he would strike up a profitable partnership with one of his attacking team-mates, Poyet still finds himself scratching his head at how best to solve his side’s attacking dilemma.
Graham, who started the last match at Hull, has impressed with his work rate and hold-up play since returning to the side in January, but does not really look like finding the back of the net.
Wickham, who has spent most of his time this season playing on the left of midfield, is a likelier goalscorer, but his lack of physical prowess means he has been brushed aside too easily on the rare occasions in which he has played in a central position.
Fletcher, who has started just one of the last nine league games, lacks confidence and spark, yet is arguably the most natural goalscorer in the squad behind Defoe.
None of the trio has made a convincing case for holding down a place in the starting line-up, and yet another clearing of the decks is likely in the summer. For now, though, Poyet continues to hold out hope that someone will hit the goal trail in the remaining ten games of the campaign.
“I would like one of them to take their chance,” said the Black Cats head coach, ahead of today’s game with Aston Villa. “That’s what I like to see. To give someone the chance, and if you get your chance, take it so the manager doesn’t have to change it any more. That’s my way of doing it because that’s how I liked it as a player.
“If someone plays well, I’ve got no chance (of changing it) – if two of them play together and win the game for us, then it’s easy to leave it. But when you don’t win, you don’t score, you don’t perform, it’s difficult.”
Today’s game sees the two lowest-scoring sides in the top-flight going head to head, but at least Villa can point to the recent arrival of Tim Sherwood as a spark that has resulted in an upturn in performances.
Having secured a much-needed league win over West Brom courtesy of a last-minute penalty, Villa followed up that success with an FA Cup victory over the Baggies. Christian Benteke, who missed the cup game, is available this afternoon.
Sunderland have secured back-to-back wins just once this season – following up the league win over Burnley with an FA Cup replay success at Fulham – and kick off this afternoon with a tally of just one goal from their last five matches in all competitions.
It is not hard to see where their biggest problem lies, and while Poyet accepts he tried to change too much when Defoe first arrived from the MLS, he has also hinted that his strikers’ subsequent performances on the training ground have hardly had him reaching for the superlatives.
“Maybe I changed things around too much,” he said. “Maybe I should have made a decision on one and just kept him there – but it’s too late now.
“I watch them every day in training and I’m looking to see anything – one session where two players link well, then they link well the next day so you force them to play together in little games. And if they keep playing like that, then they’ve got a chance.”
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