"It's just a waste of money" - Sunderland AFC transfer concern raised | OneFootball

FLW's resident Mackem is well placed to off his views on Sunderland's issues

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Sunderland AFC have both on-the-pitch and off-field issues that need addressing, it has been claimed.

The Black Cats find themselves in the automatic promotion picture in the Championship with 11 games remaining.

Football League World's resident Sunderland pundit Jordan Newcombe has offered his view on two issues that he feels are holding the Black Cats back.

Claim made that Sunderland have signed too many injury-prone players

Any side is frustrated when a player is injured, with knocks and issues part and parcel of the game.

What particularly irks fans is when players are signed and go on to play hardly any football – and that has been the case for a few players at Sunderland.

Ian Poveda and Jayden Danns joined the Black Cats in the summer and winter transfer windows, respectively, but Sunderland fans have seen little of the pair.

Danns is yet to play for Sunderland since joining in February, whilst Poveda has managed just 81 minutes in six appearances since August.

Salis Abdul Samed also arrived injured when he joined on loan from RC Lens, with Sunderland aware of a knock he had picked up in training prior to his move to the Stadium of Light.

The issue was far more time consuming than first feared, with Samed waiting until January to make his first appearance for Sunderland.

FLW’s Sunderland pundit, Jordan Newcombe, believes that this is a trend that needs correcting.

Jordan explained: “The club's biggest issue right now, there's a couple of things.

“One, it aims at the transfers and what we've been doing.

“We've had some good players come in over the last couple of years – Enzo Le Fee being one of them.

“Unfortunately he is now injured, but one of the issues is buying players that are injured.

“Obviously I'm referring to Jayden Danns - he got into his medical and they found a back problem.

“Now during a medical you still have the option to sign the player after you find out what's going on with the medical and why Sunderland have still signed him is beyond me.

“The same goes with Ian Poveda, he's only been playing a couple of games and now he's back injured.

“That's one of the things we need to stop doing. We need to start spending the money on better players, ones that aren’t injured and ones that are actually going to improve the squad.

“I've got no doubt Danns will have improved the squad massively.

“He has been highly rated by loads of people, especially Liverpool support us which I was actually looking quite forward to seeing him play.

"But unless we're unless he's back for the play-offs, I don't see him playing for Sunderland this season.

“So it's just a waste of money realistically, the same as Poveda.

“For me, Poveda just needs to get out of the door.

“He is frequently injured and we've done it with a few players at the start of the season.

"We just repeat the same thing, we've done it for years.”

Sunderland’s tendency to drop points late on a worry for fans

Jordan’s second worry related to Sunderland’s performances on the pitch.

Sunderland’s form has been a somewhat surprising story in the Championship, with the Black Cats contending with Leeds United, Burnley, and Sheffield United for automatic promotion.

All three of Sunderland’s rivals have bigger budgets thanks to recent spells in the Premier League, but Jordan is concerned that the Black Cats will be unable to sustain their league position if they keep conceding late goals.

He continued: “Issue number two is when it comes to on the pitch, it's conceding last minute goals to either draw or lose.

“We need to start commanding at the back a lot better.

“Anthony Patterson obviously needs to control his defence a lot better, be more vocal, tell them that he needs a space to look at where the ball is gonna be shot at, so he can actually have a chance at actually saving it.

“We need to start and kick the balls out a lot faster, when it's bouncing inside of the box around the 90th minute mark.

“Because let's be honest, every Sunderland fan will be absolutely bricking it when the time comes, I'll tell you that for free.

“You can ask any supporter and there will absolutely tell you 100% they brick it, the whole 90th minute thing.

“If we're one goal ahead or drawing, we absolutely brick it, because in Sunderland style we will be hit with the last-minute draw or a loss, and that is typical Sunderland.

“So that's definitely something that we need to improve on as well.”