Who To Pick From Sunderland

Drafting from Sunderland

Sunderland come in sixteenth on a power rating of 79 with a squad of twenty-four, and only Fulham, on twenty-three, bring fewer bodies to the wheel. One elite player, and he does the lifting alone: Granit Xhaka at 85 sits four above Habib Diarra on 81, five above Brian Brobbey on 80, and six above Omar Alderete and Noah Sadiki, who share 79. A spread of eight from top to bottom is not the widest going, since Liverpool stretch to twelve, but on this little depth it bites harder, because there is nowhere to hide the tail.

The one honest strength is in the middle. Central midfield comes in at 79 across three bodies, the sort of department you can lean on more than once, and Xhaka sitting on top of it is the reason to come here at all. Goalkeeping is the opposite story: 73 across three, the weakest group in the squad, and three men deep in it, which means Sunderland have spent bodies on the one position where they have nothing to offer. Take your keeper elsewhere. The nationality picture is scattered too, four Englishmen, three Dutchmen, a pair each from DR Congo and France, so anyone building around a national bloc should look at a squad with a thicker core.

Which leaves the legend, and here Sunderland are wonderfully single-minded: all four of them are centre-forwards. Kevin Phillips at 93 is the pick, eight clear of Xhaka and thirteen clear of Brobbey, and he answers the one question the current squad cannot. If you take a Sunderland legend you are taking a striker, so plan the shape around a number nine you did not have to buy.