Former Championship Star Sees Sunderland Turning Derby County Over
Former Championship star Sam Parkin is of the view that Sunderland lacked a little bit of quality in the final third against Watford but is confident that they will bounce back against Derby County.
Sunderland suffered their second defeat of the season at the hands of Watford on Saturday at Vicarage Road.
On Tuesday, Regis Le Bris’ men will welcome Derby County to the Stadium Of Light and will be keen to bounce back to winning ways.
Parkin believes that Sunderland came out of the Watford game believing that they deserved something and pointed out that Le Bris’ side lacked a little bit of quality at the weekend.
However, he is confident that Sunderland will bounce back against Paul Warne’s Derby, who have yet to win a game on the road this season and were also beaten on Saturday, by Norwich City.
Kristjaan Speakman must accept the blame after one key issue has become prominent after the Sunderland loss.
Sunderland suffered their second defeat of the season as they were undone against Watford
It is now two away defeats in a row for Regis Le Bris’ side, who came out with a 2-1 loss against Watford, with many key players not quite living up to the billing.
Black Cats midfielder Jobe Bellingham has put in several incredible performances so far in the 2024/25 Championship campaign, however he was severely off the pace in the loss against Watford, as was fellow midfielder Chris Rigg.
Whilst it was incredibly out of character for both Bellingham and Rigg to put in a poor performance on the road, Sunderland fans have become used to captain Dan Neil being in the shadow of his midfield counterparts in terms of quality, and he was unfortunately instrumental in the demise of his side vs Watford.
Following a poor decision to give away a reckless foul in the box, which saw a resulting penalty converted to hand all three points to Watford, Le Bris in many cases may take action with the midfielder, however it has become apparent that one key issue is stopping this from happening
Lack of midfield depth is a major issue for Sunderland
Whilst there was no necessity for Sunderland to recruit vigorously this summer, certain positions were in dire need of strengthening.
The options in the centre-of-the-park have been improved following the signing of Alan Browne, but following his and Salis Abdul Samed’s fitness issues at this moment, Le bris has no obvious alternative midfielders to turn towards and it has become clear that Kris should have brought in further recruits.
In most cases, the form of Neil at this moment would result in the French boss taking drastic action and give him time on the bench to recoup, however the lack of depth simply doesn’t give him the option to do this.
