| Name | Position | ATT VPM | DEF VPM | OVRL VPM | WR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlie Wyke | CF | 2.2 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 0.74 |
| Will Grigg | CF | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.9 | 0.62 |
| Duncan Watmore | W/AM | 3.9 | 2.0 | 5.2 | 0.75 |
| Kyle Lafferty | CF/AM | 3.0 | 4.6 | 6.6 | 0.75 |
| Chris Maguire | AM/W | 3.6 | 3.0 | 5.1 | 0.87 |
| Luke O’Nien | RWB/RB | 2.9 | 5.3 | 7.4 | 0.84 |
| Max Power | CM | 1.9 | 3.4 | 5.3 | 0.73 |
| Lyden Gooch | AM/W | 4.3 | 2.4 | 5.6 | 0.73 |
| George Dobson | CM | 1.5 | 4.6 | 5.9 | 0.78 |
| Grant Leadbitter | CM/DM | 1.6 | 4.8 | 6.5 | 0.78 |
| Jordan Willis | CB | 1.5 | 5.5 | 6.9 | 0.63 |
| Denver Hume | LWB/LB | 3.9 | 3.6 | 6.3 | 0.72 |
| Alim Öztürk | CB | 0.5 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 0.59 |
| Tom Flanagan | CB | 2.2 | 6.3 | 8.0 | 0.77 |
| Joel Lynch | CB | 1.2 | 7.3 | 8.5 | 0.70 |
| Conor McLaughlin | RB | 2.3 | 6.0 | 7.9 | 0.75 |
| Jon McLaughlin | GK | 0.4 | 0.8 | 8.8 | 0.40 |
| Squad Average | 2.3 | 4.2 | 6.3 | 0.72 |
SUMMARY
Sunderland are currently a disappointing 7th in the League One table. As we can see with their VPM, that as a squad they’re not getting enough attacking value. Although there defensive and overall value is high, a winning team should be around 3.0 or over for their attacking value.
Their midfield in particular need to contribute more with their attacking value. Gooch and Maguire have the type of balanced VPM that you’d want to see from midfielders, although, Leadbitter’s VPM breakdown is acceptable for a defensive midfielder.
The WR or Work Rate number which is how many attempted actions per minute a player has is also concerning. A 0.72 is quite a low average, especially for a team with promotion hopes.
Possession doesn’t seem to be the problem with Sunderland averaging around 54% in their games, however, they are not capitalising enough in the final third.
Below is the best available XI for Sunderland from the players who’ve played 10 or more games this season. It seems they like to play with wingbacks and three at the back which is why this formation has been chosen.
However with Maguire and Gooch being their most productive midfielders it’s best to find a place for both with Leadbitter and Power offering more defensive capabilities.
Lafferty offers a good target upfront and although he hasn’t played as much as Wyke and Grigg, his overall returns in the short amount of time he’s had look good. All three forwards though have higher defensive value than attacking which is a concern.
The defenders have been chosen not because their defensive scores are so high but they offer the most value in an attacking sense too. Ideally, you want to get that attacking VPM up to around 3 or more with a WR in the high 70s or above.
