Tony Mowbray explains how Sunderland would absorb Jack Clarke loss
Tony Mowbray says he thinks Sunderland are well-equipped to cope with the loss of Jack Clarke should they be unable to hang onto him in January.
Clarke is the joint top scorer in the Championship with nine goals in 15 games, a tally which has understandably put him on the radar of a plethora of Premier League clubs.
Sunderland are resolved to keep their star man in January, and his contract situation means they are not under any pressure to sell. There is a chance a move materialises, though, especially with his agent apparently so keen to push for a move.
That would be a blow to Sunderland, but Mowbray is confident his squad could maintain a promotion challenge without Clarke should the worst happen.
“I would hope we would still be in contention if we lost him," Mowbray said.
"I think you have to build structure within our teams and it’s why you have players on the fringe. Hopefully, when they get their chance, they will help the team. You need players like that to continue the progress of the team. I cannot sit here and say, we can just replace Jack Clarke with Jewison Bennette for example because he is still a young boy who is learning the game.
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“And it’s unlikely he is going to score goals at the ratio Jack does.
“But if you want to make the play-offs, you probably have to score between 60 and 70 goals. Who is going to score them because at this moment Jack is leading the way for us in that department? But I would not expect a total wind change in how we play if we did lose him.”
Sunderland ‘creating an identity’
While talent is obviously important, Mowbray says Sunderland are attempting to create a tactical framework to reply upon rather than individual players.
With Sunderland committed to a model that will involved selling their top players, that tactical framework becomes incredibly important as it makes it easier for different players to slot into a position with minimum disruption.
"We would find someone else and we would deliver the same messages we are doing now,” Mowbray explains. “We are trying to create an identity so that if an individual is suspended or whatever, you do not see much change.
“You train your team every day, not just 11 individuals. That means the back-ups know exactly what we do and how we do it in the same way as the player in front of him. Hopefully, you do not see the gap too much if you do make changes.
“It is all about the collective. That is why you have squads.”
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