Lee Johnson may have got this Sunderland side playing better football but there is one thing he cannot seem to control - injuries.
It has been a wretched few months in terms of fitness for his players. At the moment, he is missing Conor McLaughlin, Denver Hume, Bailey Wright, Jordan Willis and Grant Leadbitter.
He was set to receive an injury boost this week with Tom Flanagan approaching fitness again. Last week, the manager admitted that he was a week away from returning. That meant he should have been fit to face Rochdale on Saturday.
However, as revealed by Johnson this week, Flanagan has suffered a setback in his bid to return and now looks as though he’ll miss this weekend’s game.
Speaking this week, the Mackems boss said: "Tom has got a deferred injury.
"He broke his foot and that caused him to run differently, that led to the calf injury, and now compensating for his calf he has now felt his hip flexor. He's like the man who swallowed the bird to catch the spider to catch the fly!”
Johnson further commented on his injury on Friday afternoon, suggesting the defender wasn't a million miles away from coming back.
Johnson must be tearing his hair out at the moment. Very rarely has he been able to play his strongest XI and, with Sunderland aiming to get promoted, that’s far from ideal.
If he is searching for positives, however, it’s that the Black Cats have coped adequately without Flanagan in the side.
It’s been a risk but the Mackems have converted Luke O’Nien into a centre-half and, alongside Dion Sanderson, they have been superb.
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Sunderland have kept three clean sheets in their last four, even with five defenders all on the treatment table.
With Flanagan set to miss out again this weekend, it wouldn’t be a great surprise if he keeps faith with Sanderson and O’Nien.
That being said, just imagine how good Sunderland could be once everyone is fit and healthy. This squad has high potential under Johnson if he ever gets the chance to harness it.
Sitting fourth in League One, this could be the year they finally bounce back to the Championship.