How can Sunderland rediscover the winning formula for Stoke City?

Today at 01:00 AM

With two potentially tricky home games to come, how can Régis Le Bris and the Lads ensure that they're in a position to take advantage and get back to winning ways?

Calum Mills says…

I'm not sure what's gone on since the first few games of the season, where our dead ball deliveries looked lethal, but now we just seem to gift possession back to the opposition.

Chris Rigg has shown some promise with his left foot and almost finding his man in recent games, but we need to be more clinical or precise with indirect free kicks- either when finding our players or hitting the target with the direct ones!

Either way, don't let Patrick Roberts near a free kick, corner or penalty for the foreseeable future, please.

We can also make better use of crosses from deep.

Luke O'Nien's done it the last few games, where from around halfway into the opposition's half, he's whipped a ball in which had Wilson Isidor anticipated it better, could've gotten on the end of it. It's another route to goal that we should be looking to at least try.

Additionally, Isidor, Eliezer Mayenda, Tommy Watson and Roberts all have bags of pace.

If the balls are played towards the channels, Isidor and Mayenda have the ability to hold it up and let players overlap, or Watson and Roberts can use their pace and touch to bring the ball inside towards goal and looking to play it into the striker.

Alternatively, balls straight down the middle and over the top we should be looking for any of the forward three to chase down. With more and more teams playing high lines whilst in possession, our counter attacking ability can overcome it.

John Wilson says…

To be fair, there wasn't a lot wrong with the performance against Sheffield United, and on another day we could easily have won that game.

Everyone knows it's 'fine margins' but some folk can't seem to take it on the chin when those fine margins go against us; after all, every game has a few 'what if' shots, blocks, offsides, etc.

That being said, of course Le Bris and the coaches will be working this week on tactics, but for me, it's the psychology and motivation of the team that has to be constantly fed to the players.

We're more than capable and we can score from different areas of the pitch. We can have an energetic high press, we're a top two side, and we're unbeaten at home, so accentuate the positives. The trick is to fill the players with confidence and an 'up and at 'em' attitude, and not run out at the Stadium of Light thinking, 'We've got this'.

I could be clever and inject some of my own tactical ideas and team formations, but I don't presume to know the squad or opposition as well as Le Bris, so hopefully he'll put his sports psychology doctorate to use and keep the squad believing.

Malc Dugdale says…

I think we really need to consider how we can use the squad more effectively, especially from the bench. We should probably think about variations of the starting eleven as well, but the bench carries more benefits than we're using, for me.

The use of substitutes has been left late and at times considered at all, and one of the learnings that Régis Le Bris needs to take on is how hardcore this league is.

Now we're starting to get more players back from suspension and injury, we simply have to rotate better, and that starts with rotating a bit more.

I also have to agree with Cal in that we have a lot to improve in our set pieces.

During one of the draws before the Blades game, I heard the commentator say we'd won thirteen corners and I couldn't remember us testing the goalkeeper massively with any of them.

Corners, free kicks and penalties all need to bring better conversion into goals.

Starting with Stoke, we'll be back to facing teams who try to outmuscle us and maybe park the bus in between causing fights, so we have to make more of dead ball situations.

We simply have to get better during the last twenty minutes and managing our concentration when we're tiring. This goes with the point about substitutes, in that the lads need rotating when the arduous schedule is causing the team to make mistakes as they flag and flounder.

All of the teams who've drawn against us recently have scored in the last ten minutes or so: Sheffield United on 83 minutes to win; Millwall on 93 minutes to draw, and Coventry on 84 minutes to make it 2-2.

If it isn't substitutions or set pieces, it's late goals we need to sort. We need to up our mindset for the final fifteen to twenty minutes, and get more of these games across the line.

We need to get the best possible return from the next three fixtures ahead of Norwich, or the eight-point advantage we have over the Canaries right now could well be a lot less a few days before Santa swings by.

Let's get back on a winning run, lads, starting with Stoke.