Sunderland ‘fragility’ exposed vs Leeds, they lack major ingredient in title race – BBC pundit

Sunderland ‘fragility’ exposed vs Leeds, they lack major ingredient in title race – BBC pundit

Marco Gabbiadini believes there’s a ‘fragility’ about Sunderland this season.

 

Sunderland sit in 1st place of the Championship table going into this October international break.

Sheffield United though are level on points in 2nd, and the Blades would be top if it weren’t for a points deduction at the start of the campaign.

 

Nonetheless, Regis Le Bris continues to earn plaudits, and rightly so, for his side’s impressive start to this new season.

 

Last time out, though, Sunderland got lucky. They drew 2-2 against Leeds United at the Stadium of Light, owing to Illan Meslier’s last minute blunder.

Since the September international break, Sunderland have played five games. But from those five games, they’ve taken just seven points from a possible 15.

 

Just three points separates Sunderland in 1st and Watford in 6th. And with 37 games still left to play, whether or not Sunderland maintain their form remains to be seen.

Marco Gabbiadini highlights Sunderland ‘fragility’ after Leeds United

Already this season, Sunderland have been backed to fall off come Christmas time, and to not be in the race for top two come May.

Many think their youthful first-team squad will eventually undo them in the race for promotion this season.

 

And speaking on Total Sport, pundit and former Sunderland man Marco Gabbiadini has highlighted what he thinks is a ‘fragility’ within the side.

 

Gabbiadini highlighted Leeds United’s strength in depth and their resources as opposed to Sunderland’s.

He said: “The depth they’ve got, where last season [Wilfried] Gnonto didn’t start a huge number of games because they had so much talent ahead of him, but when that talent goes they’ve got people like him to step up.

“That’s what you’re getting with a Leeds United and probably if they were challenging halfway through the season and they needed some gaps filling, they’d probably have the money to invest then as well.”

 

Gabbiadini concluded: “There is a fragility about this group, and it’s not a criticism of anybody, it’s just the strength in depth of so many teams in this league, and how long the season is.”