Sunderland supporters will nonetheless be largely proud of their facet’s blistering begin to the season within the Championship, regardless of coming unstuck for the primary time within the league to Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth Argyle this weekend.
That was the primary time Regis Le Bris had tasted the bitterness of a defeat within the Black Cats hot-seat after the brand new supervisor had steered his assured Wearside outfit to 3 wins on the bounce earlier than the Pilgrims inflicted a shock 3-2 loss to the early pace-setters.
Sunderland have managed this nice kind with out actually having a potent striker in assault to depend on, with younger hotshot Eliezer Mayenda nonetheless studying the ropes with two targets from 5, albeit these strikes did all are available in one sport.
Lengthy gone are the times that Sunderland would fork out wads of money to signal skilled EFL heads to make up the vast majority of their facet, with Will Grigg as soon as a hotly anticipated signing that match this billing, who would fail majorly on the Stadium of Gentle.
Will Grigg’s time at Sunderland
Grigg would arrive on Wearside in 2019 with a repute for being a scientific finisher, having develop into a extensively recognized objective machine for Wigan Athletic, earlier than looking for out pastures new with Sunderland.
The Northern Irish striker would hearth residence an spectacular 65 strikes from 150 video games enjoying for the Latics, with 25 of these targets coming throughout one single League One marketing campaign again within the 15/16 season.
As a direct consequence of his repute rising to be that of an ice-cold finisher of possibilities underneath stress, he would price Sunderland a fairly penny, with the Black Cats forking out a hefty £4m for his providers in 2019.
It will in the end go down as a dire switch misfire from Stewart Donald as Grigg may by no means fairly discover his taking pictures boots donning his new purple and white colors, with a lacklustre eight targets registered for Sunderland from 62 total clashes.
Sunderland would then go on to seek out Ross Stewart who did find yourself being a lethal finisher, while Grigg was moved on, with Milton Keynes Dons snapping him up on a free switch in 2022, a drastic decline from the £4m he as soon as was valued at.
Nevertheless, at Chesterfield now, away from his forgettable enjoying days in Milton Keynes, Grigg has discovered that killer intuition as soon as extra.
Grigg’s numbers for Chesterfield
Final season when enjoying for Paul Prepare dinner’s Chesterfield within the Nationwide League, the skilled EFL veteran would amazingly web extra strikes on his personal than the entire goal-shy strikers again on the Stadium of Gentle mixed.
It was a very tough 23/24 marketing campaign for Sunderland when it got here to unearthing a potent striker from their ranks, with Nazariy Rusyn scoring probably the most total at a paltry two, in comparison with Grigg’s stellar quantity of 25.
Glancing on the desk above, there is no actual competitors between Grigg’s excellent numbers and his counterparts from Sunderland, though Mayenda will likely be happy with himself that he is obtained two targets and two assists this marketing campaign underneath Le Bris, after a bruising first season in England.
Grigg has adjusted again to the calls for of EFL soccer comparatively effectively this season to this point too, with one objective and help managed from seven appearances within the fourth tier, however may now face a prolonged spell within the Spireites therapy room after choosing up an damage final match.
Away from Grigg discovering his mojo once more at Chesterfield, Le Bris again on the Black Cats will likely be content material with what he has at his disposal within the attacking division, as he goals to make considered one of his present crop right into a centre-forward worthy of hitting double digits.
