An another severe injury blow has been dealt to Sunderland ahead of their matchup with QPR.
Although Sunderland has had some extremely poor performances lately, a number of significant absences undoubtedly doesn’t help.
The biggest blow was the loss of Jack Clarke, who had only missed one Championship match since being promoted. The club’s readiness for his absence would determine how long he would be sidelined.
Naturally, we were ill-prepared and have since suffered as a result of his absence. We have also been penalized by our deficiency of defensive options.
Due to suspension, we haven’t played Dan Ballard and Luke O’Nien together in about a month. Aji Alese, Dennis Cirkin, and Niall Huggins are still out.
The match this weekend against QPR is crucial, and it will be disastrous if we lose against a team fighting for relegation. However, we are facing a lot of challenges ahead of the match because of our most recent injury worry.
Considering that Jenson Seelt is also a “major doubt,” the Sunderland Echo has now stated that Ballard and O’Nien are both unavailable.
The Dutchman was our lone remaining center defender, therefore Trai Hume and Leo Hjelde, our full-back tandem, will most likely replace him.
Is Timothee Pembele ready for his first-ever start?
Timothee Pembele had a terrible performance in the backline against Swansea City, but Mike Dodds has done all in his power to keep him out of the lineup thus far, even choosing to start Callum Styles against Southampton.
All Dodds can really do right now is give Pembele his first start for the team, even though we know he likes to appear like a tactical genius and make unexpected changes to the lineup and formation.
The 21-year-old has had difficulty making an impression thus far and has only made cameos totaling 85 minutes in the Championship.
I would much rather the ‘dynamic’ defender be given an opportunity against one of the worst teams in the league, than Dodds somehow managing to work in another midfielder or winger to our defence.
Pembele hasn’t quite settled into life on Wearside yet, but there’s no denying the potential that he has. The likes of Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino have already had the Frenchman in their first-team plans at Paris Saint-Germain.
His attacking traits are clearly his strongest and we should take advantage of that against QPR, given our struggles going forward this term.
It could be a very painful watch at the Stadium of Light this weekend, but I honestly don’t think it will be Pembele’s side that is the major concern.
Callum Styles has so far only shown that he will never be a defender, but this time we have no choice but to play him there. Though I wouldn’t even complain if young Tom Lavery came in instead.
