Sunderland lacking 'cutting edge' right now, admits midfielder

The Sunderland striker problems are starting to cause serious issues in the final third.

Dan Neil admitted Sunderland once again lacked a ‘cutting edge’ in their defeat to Coventry as the striker shortage came into stark focus.

Joe Gelhardt is the only striker available for Sunderland for the rest of the season, and the on-loan Leeds youngster prefers to play in a deeper role.

Ross Stewart is out until the summer with an Achilles injury, and Sunderland failed to replace him, leaving coach Tony Mowbray to bemoan his lack of options following the 2-1 defeat at the CBS Arena.

That analysis sounds like something with which Neil agrees, with Sunderland overplaying around the box while crating very little.

“Frustrating is probably the word,” Neil told safc.com. “I think we had a lot of possession, a lot of nice bits of play, but we just didn’t quite have that cutting edge when we got into good areas

“That's the game in a nutshell and they’ve caught us on two breaks and scored two goals and Amad’s one at the end was too late and we didn’t have a chance to keep going onto that.

“I think in parts we were sloppy. Build up play was a bit sloppy in the first half although we did have a lot of possession but like I said before we just we got into alright areas we just didn’t have that cutting edge today to create them chances and put them away.”

The game does at least bring to a close the hectic schedule that Sunderland have had to manage of late, and they now have a week to prepare for their next game, which is at home to Stoke.

That might not seem like a big deal, but it will feel like a complete luxury compared to recent weeks.

“It’s been quite an intense few weeks like you said Saturday Tuesday, we’ve got a week where we can rest and recover, get sorted for Stoke,” Neil said.

“I don't think we can get too caught up in the league. You’ve just got to go game by game and try and win game by game and get as many points as you can and see where that takes us.”

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