Strikers? Who needs 'em?
After all, Spain won Euro 2012 without one, and Pep Guardiola's Manchester City seemed to rub along just fine before Erling Haaland arrived. Now Sunderland have shown that they have got the hang of this false nine thing, too.
They needed to, because when Ellis Simms limped off at the Madejski Stadium with 37 minutes on the clock, their fans must have feared the worst. With top scorer Ross Stewart already sidelined for at least six weeks, the loss of the Black Cats' only other senior striker to injury was exactly the circumstance that supporters - and boss Tony Mowbray - had dreaded.
READ MORE: Tony Mowbray gives the latest update on Ellis Simms' injury following Sunderland's win at Reading
If the central theme in the build-up to the Reading game had been how Mowbray was going to find a way to score goals with Simms as his only out-and-out centre-forward, the new conundrum facing him was finding a way to score goals with no frontmen. Even with Simms on the pitch, Sunderland had barely threatened despite dominating possession and territory against the Royals.
And yet, within two minutes of his departure, they were in front. Two minutes after that, they were two goals to the good.
What was going on? The injury had forced Mowbray to change to a back four, and to use Alex Pritchard as a false nine.
Simms was replaced by Elliot Embleton and the substitute was the architect of both goals, with Patrick Roberts applying the finishes. First, Embleton started a lightning-quick counterattack on the edge of his own penalty area, before releasing Roberts down the right and he cut into the Reading box and placed his low shot across Joe Lumley into the bottom left-hand corner.
Next, Embleton played a one-two with Pritchard before playing a low ball into the box from the left, Dan Neil left it for Roberts, and he took a touch before steering his shot beyond Lumley and into that same bottom corner. Reading were reeling, with their 100 percent home record in serious jeopardy.
And, 20 minutes from time, Sunderland produced a brilliant team goal to ensure there was no way back for Paul Ince's side. If my comparisons between the style of Sunderland at Reading and the great Spain and Manchester City teams are made with tongue firmly in cheek, the Black Cats' third goal would not have looked out of place had it been scored by either of those sides.
Lynden Gooch's pass up the right-hand touchline was flicked round the corner by Neil for Roberts, who flicked it into the path of Pritchard, he threaded the ball through into the path of Neil who had continued his run and his early ball across the box found Jack Clarke, whose first touch took the defender out of the game and left him with a simple right-foot finish. There will be some spectacular strikes, and many stunning individual goals, over the course of the campaign, but there may not be a better team goal scored in the Championship this season.
It capped an excellent all-round performance, in which summer signing Aji Alese impressed in defence in what was his first league start for the club, and fellow new arrival Jewison Bennette coming off the bench to make his first appearance in English football, with the Costa Rica international only denied a debut goal late on when Lumley saved with his feet. Sunderland's win was the perfect response to last week's narrow defeat at Middlesbrough, and it lifted them to sixth place in the table.
But while the loss of Simms did not have a detrimental effect against Reading, it underlined just how risky was the decision not to add a third striker in the transfer window. Since the window closed on September 1, Stewart has been ruled out for a lengthy period and now the Black Cats can only hope that Simms' toe injury turns out to be only minor.
Because, regardless of what happened at Reading, whether Sunderland are equipped to play without a striker in the medium term is one of those questions Mowbray would rather not have to answer.
READ NEXT:
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- Patrick Roberts leads the way as Sunderland make light of Ellis Simms injury to defeat Reading
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