BBC Radio Newcastle’s Nick Barnes joined Stephen Goldsmith and Gareth Barker on the latest edition of the Wise Men Say podcast to discuss all things Sunderland and the panel spent some time discussing the Black Cats’ recent EFL Cup exit during the show.
Sunderland kicked off their 2020/21 campaign last Saturday in an EFL Cup clash with fellow League One side Hull City. That game finished 0-0 in regular time and the Black Cats were subsequently knocked out of the competition after losing the penalty shootout 5-4.
While talking about this EFL Cup defeat, Barnes shared his “biggest concern” for the Black Cats coming out of that game during his recent appearance on the Wise Men Say podcast.
He said: “You want to win every game, but the strange thing is the game finished 0-0, and I think the biggest concern for me out of that is the fact they didn’t score, and we’ve got this problem seemingly – okay, after only one game – that has haunted Sunderland all last season and the season before, just not scoring enough goals.”
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As can be seen in what Barnes had to say, he found Sunderland’s inability to score against Hull City in last Saturday’s 2020/21 season opener concerning.
Last season, the Black Cats scored fewer goals than seven other League One sides and this is despite the fact they played at least one more game than all but one other League One team.
With that in mind, it is clear that the North East club could have been more prolific in front of goal last term and it may be understandable why the club’s failure to score in their opening game of the 2020/21 season against Hull City set off alarm bells for Barnes.
Hopefully, for the Black Cats, they can put their EFL Cup exit behind them and get their 2020/21 League One campaign off to a positive start against Bristol Rovers this Saturday.