Writing for the Sunderland Echo, former player Stephen Elliott has suggested that it could be time for Black Cats boss Lee Johnson to switch around Luke O'Nien and Carl Winchester in terms of their starting positions. The men from Wearside are hoping that this year is going to be the one where they finally win promotion and a decent start to the campaign has been made, though a couple of recent losses have taken the gloss off of things a little. And, that said, Elliott thinks that it could be time for a tactical tweak that sees Winchester move into midfield and O'Nien into defence.
Writing in his column, he explained his thinking: "O’Nien has proven quality in the right-back position and could easily be manoeuvred back in there. He was one of the team’s most consistent players from right back last year and I’m sure he would do well again if he was to drop back in.
"I believe having Winchester’s guile and energy in the centre of midfield may be beneficial to the team."

The Verdict

As Elliott mentions, O'Nien has played in the right-back position before for the club and did a good job there, so that wouldn't be an issue if Lee Johnson opted to take this course of action.

Whether it's enough to snap Sunderland out of the little two-game losing streak in the league that they are in remains to be seen, though, and Johnson will just be eager to see that whatever plan he puts together next time out pays off.