Championship leaders Sunderland must unleash exciting attacking duo against Coventry City

If there was any need for clarification of just how key Romaine Mundle and Patrick Roberts are to Sunderland then Wednesday night at Preston provided it.

Of course, it’s important to utilise the squad and not rely too heavily on individuals.

And with Saturday’s home clash with managerless Coventry City looming large – Mark Robins having been sacked yesterday – bringing in Tommy Watson and Aaron Connelly, during a busy week, was understandable. Players need to be brought up to speed and if you are going to sacrifice flair for stability it’s best to do it away from home.

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But let’s not pretend we don’t know the answer to why Regis Le Bris’ side “lacked the flow” of previous displays, in the words of Luke O’Nien. Sunderland roared to the top of the Championship by playing with width, producing exciting football, scoring goals and creating chances.

Twin tormentors Roberts and Mundle are key to that game-plan. They also offer an outlet when the team comes under pressure.

Simply, that wasn’t there at Preston. Obviously, being without the suspended Jobe Belllingham had an effect too but it’s baffling why Le Bris chose to leave out both Roberts and Mundle. It was no coincidence that the Black Cats started to play when they came on in the 60th minute.

Le Bris had talked about the “three-man triangle” of Chris Rigg, Trai Hume and Roberts prior to the game. They had played so well together that when Rigg missed out with injury at QPR, Le Bris said: "When one of the three elements is missing it makes a difference.”

Rigg came back in but Le Bris decided to leave out one of those three key elements down the Black Cats’ right.

It was interesting to hear O’Nien mention that the team needed to reflect on what got Sunderland into this position, ie, top of the table. Starting with their best players has a lot to do with it.

Not doing so, for whatever reason, is like turning up at a golf tournament without a driver, three-wood and putter in your bag – improvisation is required and your ability to attack the situation is severely compromised.

The one plus is the number of clean sheets the team is keeping although that was partly to do with Preston’s poor finishing than good defending in Lancashire.

To that end, Dan Ballard’s stay on the sidelines after returning from injury, could be prolonged. Dropping either O’Nien or Chris Mepham would destabilise the team in a defensive sense and, without having scored a goal in the last two matches, that would mean an issue at both ends of the pitch.