<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=37qOi5_0utatSQP00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=37qOi5_0utatSQP00" width="820" height="1093" ></figure>Almost every social media post Sunderland AFC have published this summer has featured at least one reply asking the club to sign a striker. This isn’t the first transfer window in which it’s happened, and with three weeks left, there’s still time to add to the ranks- although not in time for tomorrow’s curtain raiser. Régis Le Bris takes his troops down to Cardiff and his first league starting eleven looks almost set in stone. Nazariy Rusyn, Luis Hemir and Eliezer Mayenda are all on the books, but the Spanish forward looks likely to be given the nod to lead the line. Mayenda has been given plenty of minutes in pre-season, and the coaching staff didn’t make the most of his strength and pace last season. A loan move to Scottish side Hibernian benefitted no one, and being placed front and centre by Le Bris will have hopefully done him plenty of good. <img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2R0ywL_0utatSQP00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2R0ywL_0utatSQP00" width="1920" height="1382" >These attributes would’ve been wasted in any Sunderland lineup last season, as our coaches tended to play with a lack of width and our wingers failed to get balls into the box regularly. In all fairness, even Erling Haaland would’ve struggled to be a consistent goalscorer in a red and white shirt last year. This is one instance that drives me to think that under a different coach with a plan to use the forwards to greater effect, we’ll see the best of several players who ended up being anonymous at times last year. One tactical aspect we’ve seen in almost every pre-season match is a high, aggressive press. Keeping opposition defenders on their toes is something we rarely did last year, and when we did, it was often without a striker on the pitch and the task of leading the line was given to a midfielder or winger. We do have the midfield options that’ll allow Le Bris to turn us into a high pressing team. In a press like this, you need a striker who has plenty of pace and energy to force opponents into mistakes, and of the three, Mayenda looks to be the best option. He seems ready to grasp the opportunity and will benefit from a fresh start after a turbulent start to life on Wearside. <img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3mnKAw_0utatSQP00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3mnKAw_0utatSQP00" width="1920" height="1224" >In a pre-season chat with the club, Mayenda offered an insight into how we can expect Sunderland to play under Le Bris.<blockquote>The gaffer just says we need to keep working and find a good creation, good pressures, find the triangles between each other, and he just tells us to be more confident ahead of the first game, that’s the most important thing.</blockquote>Most importantly, Mayenda needs to be backed. It’s not his fault that we’re heading into the new season without a senior striker, and he may not hit the ground running, but as a younger striker at Sunderland, the pressure will be placed on his shoulders almost immediately. If Mayenda is thrown in at the deep end, we can be confident in knowing he’ll do so with a full summer under a new ideology under his belt. </div></body>

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Eliezer Mayenda will be Sunderland’s main man for now, so let’s back him

Almost every social media post Sunderland AFC have published this summer has featured at least one reply asking the club to sign a striker. This isn’t the first transfer window in which it’s happened, and with three weeks left, there’s still time to add to the ranks- although not in time for tomorrow’s curtain raiser.

Eliezer Mayenda will be Sunderland’s main man for now, so let’s back him

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