Sbragia: Strikers must adapt

Sunderland boss Ricky Sbragia has urged strikers Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cisse to adapt to shake off the shackles placed on them by opposition teams.

The frontmen have been tamed in recent weeks and have scored just once each in the club’s last 11 games after being given special attention by defenders.

A debate over whether or not Jones and Cisse can play together is ongoing on Wearside, but Sbragia, who started with the Frenchman on the bench as he opted for a 4-5-1 formation at Bolton on Saturday, believes their problems have been compounded by the efforts of opponents to stop them playing.

He said: “What’s happened, teams are closing down the width of the game. There’s not a lot of space behind them, so they are finding it difficult to go behind, especially Djibril.

“He has to adapt his game a little bit more and he is finding that difficult. One of Djibril’s major strengths is going forward. If you were playing against him, you would want him to be coming towards the ball.

“As a pair, they can probably get a little bit closer. Kenwyne did really well last year and when he came back from the injury, he was excellent. But he has not repeated that performance enough. It’s a case of just persevering with them and getting on with it.

“You hope all the good things they did early-season will start coming back again.”

For all their problems, Jones and Cisse have scored 21 goals between them to date this season with the loan signing from Marseille one ahead of his team-mate.

However, their partnership is not a natural one and both Sbragia and predecessor Roy Keane and their staff have worked hard in an effort to get them to gel.

The Black Cats negotiated a fee to make 27-year-old Cisse’s move to the Stadium of Light permanent when they set-up the loan arrangement, although his price was negotiated in euros and the weakness of the pound means he could now cost up to £3m more than at that time.

Sbragia has insisted no decision will be made until the club’s Premier League status is secured, although reports have suggested Cisse has already made up his mind that he will not be staying after being left out of the starting line-up at the weekend.

Sunderland remain too close for comfort to the relegation zone with two games remaining, but have the biggest of incentives to complete their mission to stay up with American investor Ellis Short ready to buy out the Drumaville consortium and push ahead with ambitious plans for the club.