Blog: What is next for Sunderland?
With just one win from the first twelve matches, Sunderland must consider their opening third of the season a failure. Their form is akin to the previous two seasons, indicating that the signings they made in the summer transfer window has done nothing to improve the overall performance of the side. This must be eradicated in the January window.
An obvious area for improvement is defence, where Sunderland have particularly struggled this campaign. Conceding 26 goals thus far, more than any other team, the combination of John O'Shea, Younes Kaboul, and Sebastien Coates has not enjoyed much success in the centre. We also fail to impress out wide, with Patrick van Aanholt losing his place in the side to the inexperienced Deandre Yedlin.
Tidying up our defence could pay dividends, perhaps best demonstrated by comparing Sunderland to tenth placed Liverpool. While the two teams have scored the same amount of goals (13), Liverpool have conceded 12 fewer — this has won them 11 more points this season. Sunderland are not exactly a free-scoring side, but strengthening the defence stands us in a much better position to at least break free of the relegation zone.
It will be interesting to see whether Jermain Defoe seeks a move away from the club in January. The ageing striker was once considered a sure starter, but has lost his place in the side to Steven Fletcher, with Fabio Borini and Ola Toivonen also giving Sam Allardyce an attacking headache. If Defoe departs, he must be replaced with quality to maintain our goalscoring.