As they so often have been in the last few years, Sunderland appear to be a sinking ship.
Only nine days ago they looked the favourites to gain automatic promotion but that has now fallen by the wayside after three straight defeats.
On the chalkboard
One of the main reasons for Sunderland’s recent slump has been their defence. The tight-knit duo of Dion Sanderson and Luke O’Nien has been split up due to injury reasons and it has not gone well.
The Mackems conceded two set pieces on their way to a defeat against Wigan, proving incredibly sloppy when the ball came into the area.
Though, when they lost to Blackpool it was arguably their finishing that told a sorry story. Lee Johnson’s men had 67% of the possession and had six more shots than the Tangerines.
That didn’t seem to matter, however, as Sunderland lost 1-0.
[snack-amp-story url= "https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-sunderland-transfer-rumours-and-news-grigg-denayer-louis-dreyfus-sanderson-melamed" title="Latest Sunderland transfer news and views!"]
Charlie Wyke now only has one goal in his last seven matches too. It’s hard to knock his performances at all given his haul of 27 strikes this campaign but unfortunately, he’s not received much help from those below him in the pecking order.
Danny Graham and Will Grigg failed to score a league goal in the opening half of the season while Ross Stewart has netted just once since signing in January.
It was a valuable header against Accrington but he’s not done much since.
The solution
Regardless of what division Sunderland find themselves in next term, they will need to bolster their forward line.
That should start with the addition of Hibernian forward Kevin Nisbet.
The Black Cats were interested in securing a move back in January before they picked up Stewart from Scottish football instead.
Though, you can’t help but wonder whether they picked up the wrong player because Nisbet has been in scintillating form for Hibs.
If they are on the lookout for new attackers then they could do a lot worse than looking at the 24-year-old, a player who may well face the exit door in a few months time.
Speaking in early April about Nisbet potentially leaving, executive chairman of Hibs, Ron Gordon said: “That could be a possibility, to be honest. It wouldn't surprise me.”
With 16 goals to his name this term, the forward is evidently very cool inside the penalty area. He is the second top scorer in the SPFL and has fired Hibernian to third spot in the division at the time of writing.
He is also managed by a certain Jack Ross, someone who lauded his penalty box antics as “terrific” earlier this season.
With Stewart struggling to hit the ground running at the Stadium of Light, Nisbet would make a fine addition.
After all, he’s fared very well against some of Scotland’s top defenders this term.
Ross added: “[He’s got] both feet, headers, tap-ins, longer range ones. Today (23/11/20) he played as a lone striker and that’s not something he’s had to do a lot this season, he’s played against Nir (Bitton) and Kristoffer Ajer who are two good players."
The Hibs striker clearly plays with no fear; that would benefit Sunderland massively.