Sunderland coach, David Moyes, has attributed the club’s deteriorating performances in the Premier League to the absence of injured Nigerian, Victor Anichebe.
Anichebe’s superb work-rate and ability to hold up play paved way for his manager to play with two upfront which was instrumental in the club’s resurgence last year.
The 28-year-old scored three goals in eight starts to help the Black Cats move out of relegation waters.
However, since the injury to the ex-Everton forward on Boxing Day against Burnley, the club have failed to win a single game and have since returned to the foot of the log.
“We may have to play a little bit on the counter-attack and play quite fast football. We spoke to the players about it and I think they understand,” Moyes told Sunderland Echo on Monday.
“We’re trying to get more balls in the box, more people in the box. It’s the only way we’re going to score goals. As well as, say, Adnan (Januzaj) or Fabio (Borini) and Jermain (Defoe), we’re trying to get some of the midfield players further up.
“Ndong got himself a goal [at Selhurst Park], albeit from outside the box. We’re having to really try and find a way.
“I think so [3-5-2 being a solution]. What I do think is it will change. It will change again because of what the opposition can do to you, maybe you’re chasing a game and you need to do it in a different way, you need to look at different things.
“But I think when we lost Victor (Anichebe), that was the key to it. We needed to keep looking for another way to get up the pitch, to have two forwards playing and not to be too exposed defensively. Because we had been making mistakes and conceding goals, I had to make sure we could shore it up a little bit as well.”
