Journalist urges Mowbray to hand Ekwah a rare Sunderland start

Journalist Ethan Todd believes Sunderland teen Pierre Ekwah ought to be beginning for the Black Cats.

The Lowdown: Sunderland introduced crashing all the way down to earth

It wasn’t too way back that Sunderland have been using the crest of a wave and sitting contained in the play-off spots. Nevertheless, fast-forward just a few video games and so they have yielded zero wins from their last four matches and now sit six points off the top six.

The newest of their surprising run of outcomes was the hammering at dwelling to Stoke Metropolis and by the hands of former supervisor Alex Neil, with the consequence highlighting flaws of their squad.

Sunderland boast the youngest average age of any squad in the Championship and are with out skilled stars reminiscent of Ross Stewart and membership captain Corry Evans, however Todd needs to see extra proficient kids deployed to fight their absences.

The Newest: Ekwah to be thrown in on the deep finish

Ekwah was recruited from Premier League facet West Ham in the summertime however has been afforded simply 43 minutes of first-team motion, and Todd argued on The Roar podcast that this ought to be altering.

He stated: “It is attending to the purpose the place we have been placing sq. pegs in spherical holes and so they’re now not becoming, so I feel personally, I’d have had [Luke] O’Nien in central midfield.

“I do know he isn’t the best technically – actually not as technical as [Dan] Neil – however simply having that presence and a little bit of [physicality] about him. I feel it is likely to be time to provide Ekwah a go as effectively.”

The Verdict: Mowbray has an opportunity to experiment

Whereas handing a primary league begin of the season to an inexperienced midfielder reminiscent of Ekwah away to Norwich Metropolis would not precisely be a baptism of fireside with the Carrow Highway environment nothing to be intimidated by, the Canaries are a stable outfit and can show to be robust opponents this weekend.

Nevertheless, with Sunderland now wanting like outsiders to make the play-offs and having a snug 17-point cushion to the bottom three of the Championship, they give the impression of being set for a mid-table end.

Subsequently, these closing video games of the season will give Tony Mowbray a chance to have a look at his squad and check out to determine some new ways heading into the forthcoming marketing campaign, together with discovering out the very best place for ‘brilliant‘ ace Ekwah, who we really feel they need to be constructing their midfield round for the longer term.