Roy Keane has indirectly fired a warning at Sunderland after the exits of Alex Pritchard, Danny Batth and Lynden Gooch.
Sunderland‘s young team were well-loved across the EFL last season for the fast-flowing, exciting football.
The likes of Jack Clarke, Amad Diallo and Dan Neil lit up the Championship as they reached the play-offs at the first time of asking, while they proved to be an absolute delight to watch for supporters.
The likes of Ross Stewart, Alex Pritchard, Danny Batth, Lynden Gooch and Bailey Wright have since left the club though, drastically decreasing the average age of the Sunderland squad. In fact, there are now only five players over the age of 24 on Wearside.
With Corry Evans spending the last 14 months on the sidelines, the Black Cats have been lacking in experience and leadership and appear to be feeling the full effects of that empty hole this term.
Sunderland have now lost six of their last seven games and look completely lost, with the risk of adopting such a young first team squad now coming back to punish them.
Supporters have spent most of the last year encouraging Kristjaan Speakman to bring in some proven players but he refused and is now paying the price.
Former Sunderland manager Roy Keane has now warned the club of their controversial transfer strategy, claiming a team full of youngsters can get ‘eaten alive’ in the Championship.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Keane said: “The problem with the Championship is that every club will believe they can get to the play-offs, but the average age to get promoted is 29, so the experience does matter. “
I understand what your plan might be, but if that’s the plan and you’re not winning every week… you need a mixed bag, obviously. If there’s too many young players in your team in the Championship then they get eaten alive. It’s a tough balancing act.”
Sunderland’s ‘balance’ were all sent packing last summer
What Roy Keane has said isn’t exactly rocket science and is something Sunderland fans have known for a very long time, while Kristjaan Speakman seemed to be the only one who didn’t quite understand that.
The Black Cats have brought in some excellent young players and there is no doubt that they have really improved our squad, while we probably wouldn’t have reached the play-offs without them.
However, the difference between last season and this season is that we still had a number of experienced players to balance it out.
The team that won the play-off final in 2022 consisted of Gooch, Wright, Batth, Evans, O’Nien, Pritchard, Stewart and Roberts – all with years of senior football under their belt.
Speakman’s decision to offload five of those players has been catastrophic, while the young players don’t even have Tony Mowbray to help guide them now either.
The club’s sporting director now has one chance to fix his wrongdoings this season, and fans will be eagerly awaiting the transfer window to see if he continues with his disastrous transfer plan or if he steers away and begins to rebuild our struggling squad.