Sunderland ‘Are Gone’ – Ex-EFL Star Writes Off Black Cats Against Coventry City | OneFootball

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Ex-EFL star Adrian Clarke is of the view that Sunderland have no chance of beating Coventry City in the Championship playoffs over the two legs.

Sunderland booked their place in the playoffs before April and since then form has taken a dip as they finished the regular season with a six-game winless run and five straight defeats.

Now Regis Le Bris’ side are set to lock horns with Frank Lampard’s Coventry City over the two legs to get to the final where they would face the winners of the tie between Sheffield United and Bristol City.

Clarke was not impressed with Sunderland’s performance against Queens Park Rangers as they suffered a 1-0 defeat and he pointed out that some of the Black Cats players were nowhere near their best on Saturday.

But he admitted that Eliezer Mayenda looked very sharp during the QPR game and stressed that Le Bris has to start him in the first leg against Coventry City on Friday.

Clarke stated that Sunderland have to play a lot better to compete against Coventry City at a packed CBS Arena, although he admitted that he is not giving Sunderland any chance to win the tie against Lampard’s side, as he thinks that the Black Cats’ form has completely deserted them.

“Inside the final third Sunderland’s confidence is short at the moment; Mayenda gives them hope”, Clarke said on What The EFL (26:45).

“Mayenda, for me, is sharp; I really like him, he has to start.

“Chris Rigg was anonymous, really; Patrick Roberts was very, very quiet; down the left, young Tom Watson is finding his way back; and Cirkin was very good as a left-back at the weekend.

“Jobe Bellingham was not outstanding, kind of at fault for QPR’s goal as well; he did not track his runner, so they are going to have to be so much better to live with Coventry at a sold out CBS Arena.

“They lost 3-0 there in mid-March, Sunderland, and I think if they can get anything better than that given what I saw at the weekend, they will take it because I don’t fancy them at all.

“I think they are gone; I don’t think they have got a chance to beat Coventry over two legs based on not just what I saw, obviously their recent form.

“You just can not turn it on like that.”

Sunderland lost their last encounter back in March against Coventry City 3-0 at the CBS Arena and the Black Cats have not won a single game against the Sky Blues in their last ten meetings.