Hello and welcome to the Sunderland AFC live blog on Monday, August 12.
The transfer window for Premier League and Championship clubs is closed, but Jack Ross still has plenty of time to fine tune his squad ahead of the League One window closing on September 2.
The Scot has his eye on another left-back and now the Premier League and Championship windows are closed, targets' futures should look a little clearer.
“We would like someone in in that area,” he said. "You can see we have good depth in other areas but it is important for us to have another option and competition for Denver so we will continue to work on that over the coming days.
"We have already worked hard on that regard on the possibility Bryan would leave so it was a case of knowing exactly who would work for us within the parameters of the club as well.”
On the pitch though, it's not going so well, and another poor display, this time at Ipswich, means it's two draws from two so far.
Ipswich 1-1 Sunderland - big match reaction
Sunderland drew 1-1 at Ipswich Town at Portman Road on Saturday - here is our reaction from the game.
Warning for Sunderland
Portsmouth forward Ronan Curtis has warned his Sunderland his side are looking to make it three victories in a row at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
The two sides faced each other five times last season, with the Black Cats coming out on top in the two-legged play-off semi-final, but losing the EFL Trophy final at Wembley.
But while this campaign has only just got under way, Saturday’s clash on Wearside will be another tough examination of Jack Ross’ side’s promotion credentials.
Their opening games have seen two 1-1 draws - at home to Oxford and at Ipswich - with the first-half display at Portman Road raising some serious questions over formation.
However, an improved second-half performance brought a deserved point, with Accrington Stanley in the Carabao Cup to come on Tuesday night.
For their part, Portsmouth have bounced back from an opening-day defeat to Shrewsbury with a midweek 3-0 success over Birmingham in the Carabao Cup, followed by Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Tranmere at Fratton Park.
Repbublic of Ireland winger Curts played in all three and, while he knows what Sunderland can do on their day, is confident of making it three wins on the bounce at the weekend.
“We knew what we had to do to bounce back from the previous Saturday at Shrewsbury and that’s two clean sheets in a row now,” the 23-year-old told www.portsmouthfc.co.uk
“Hopefully we can keep the winning run going and see how far we can go – we want to keep picking up three points.
“We played against Sunderland on quite a few occasions last season and certainly know what they’re capable of.
“But we also know just what we’re capable of and the plan for us is to go there and get another victory.
“I’m enjoying my football at the moment. I’ve been in this league for a year now and thought I did well last season, so hopefully this one will bring even more.”
Jack Ross ready to make changes
Jack Ross admits he’s going to make changes for the cup game against Accrington.
Like a lot of teams we have a borderline ridiculously busy month of the season.
We’ll use our squad on Tuesday because we have a really big league game coming up on Saturday. We’ll have a couple that will benefit from playing too.
We’ll freshen it up on Tuesday and that will give some an opportunity, because while I was pleased with the second half (at Ipswich), I wasn’t with the first.
George Dobson on learning at SAFC
All about competition he says!
“The competition here is brilliant.
“We’ve got our captain, Grant, whose career speaks for itself on the bench and Max Power, who’s a top, top League One footballer.
“The competition is relentless but that’s what makes you have to thrive on the pitch to make sure that every time you do play you’re playing to a good standard so your place doesn’t get taken.”
Ross to make changes on Tuesday
“Like a lot of teams we have a borderline ridiculously busy month of the season.
“We’ll use our squad on Tuesday because we have a really big league game coming up on Saturday. We’ll have a couple that will benefit from playing too.
“We’ll freshen it up on Tuesday and that will give some an opportunity, because while I was pleased with the second half (at Ipswich), I wasn’t with the first.”
SAFC still in the market for a left-back
Denver Hume was axed at HT after another below par display. Conor McLaughlin went over to left-back, further highlighting SAFC’s need to get a left back in before the end of the transfer window.
Welcome
Hello and welcome to today’s live blog for all things SAFC. To start, here’s the top stories on the site
- Sunderland system error leaves under pressure Jack Ross in need of a rethink
- Cover for Denver Hume still required, not another panic buy after Sunderland left-back’s struggles
- Chris Sutton delivers damning verdict after Sunderland’s slow start to new season
- Successful surgery on Sunderland’s three-at-the-back problems could put formation out of its misery
