Total Fallback: A major injury suffered by another important Sunderland player will prevent him from playing against Norwich today.
One thing has not changed this season despite all of the uncertainty and inconsistency: Jack Clarke’s significance to this Sunderland team.
With twelve games left, we have a massive hole to fill after learning of his injury. He has been our player of the season, a constant threat on the left.
As we’ve seen far too frequently this season, six weeks is a long time in football, especially when you have to play three games a week, four games against the league’s top seven, and fit a busy Easter calendar into that time frame.
Thus, it is a severe blow that Clarke’s ankle ligament damage will keep him out of action for six weeks, and possibly longer until he is fit enough to play again.
Although Mike Dodds’ situation appears dire at first glance, how will he discover the solutions to the concerns that Clarke’s absence raises?
The figures this season have shown how much we have relied on him. In 35 games, Clarke has assisted on four goals and scored fifteen himself. To be honest, no one else in the team has really been able to match his stats.
To put things in perspective, Jobe is our second-highest goal scorer of the season with five goals, followed by Dan Neil and Pierre Ekwah with four each.
Clarke is currently in the top four scorers in the league, level with Crysencio Summerville and behind Sammy Szmodics, Morgan Whittaker, and Adam Armstrong, but he has the best goal conversion and shot accuracy among the five, which makes him stand out from the rest of the division.
This is the reason why a lot of teams were interested in him both in January and the previous summer, and they will be back in the summer transfer window.
Clarke’s major presence in the team has been mostly attributed to his ability to carry the ball forward and take opponents on, but his signature move—cutting onto his right foot and bending a great finish into the far corner—has been consistently entertaining to watch.
Though it appears unlikely given the severity of his injuries and the amount of time it might take him to recover to play fitness, we still want to see him play for us before his inevitable departure in the summer.
Regarding the present, the most important query is: who will step up in the last twelve games?
Romaine Mundle deserves a longer look at the team to see what he can accomplish after putting on an excellent display at Birmingham—ironically, during the same game that Clarke suffered his ankle injury.
He may have been brought in to replace Clarke next season, but an opportunity to establish himself has presented itself far sooner than anticipated. One can only hope that he seizes it.
Another guy who could be crucial is Abdoullah Ba, if he can maintain some of the form we’ve already seen in him—just not consistently.
We did appear to have missed Clarke’s attacking danger on Saturday, particularly in the first half when we found it difficult to contain Swansea, but we now need to begin adjusting to life without him.
It will need more output from the attackers and a step up from other offensive players.
Therefore, if the campaign wasn’t already in jeopardy, it is now, and finishing in the top six will need even more of us because of the significant hole left by Clarke’s injury.
