Sunderland manager Jack Ross has admitted that his side must find the correct balance between illustrating attacking intent and keeping it tight defensively during the current campaign.

Despite the Black Cats finding the back of the net in 45 of their 46 fixtures in League One last season, their promotion push was hampered severely by the fact that they were only capable of keeping 13 clean sheets.

Although Ross has tried to address this issue already this summer by signing the likes of Jordan Willis and Conor McLaughlin, Sunderland have been held to 1-1 draws in both of their league fixtures this year.

Whereas the Black Cats did pick up a confidence boosting 3-1 victory over Accrington Stanley in the Carabao Cup earlier this week, they will have to be at the top of their game to defeat Portsmouth at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

Speaking to ChronicleLive about his tactical approach to games this season ahead of the Pompey clash, Ross admitted: "Sometimes the scrutiny and the pressure here affects things.

"If you don't play forward enough you don't give the ball away, but if you do play forward then there is more chance of you giving the ball away.

"We didn't play well at Ipswich [last weekend] I've said that, we were guilty of going sideways and backwards.

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"At Accrington the big difference was we had players in forward areas and we played forwards a lot more.

"We were a lot braver and willing to make mistakes in possession - and I'll take that.

"There is always a balance to strike but wee feel as if we've got good players in the final third and we want to maximise that."

The Verdict

Having narrowly missed out on securing a place in the Championship earlier this year after losing to Charlton Athletic in the play-offs, the pressure is firmly on Sunderland and Ross to deliver the goods this season.

Yet after drawing back-to-back games in League One, it may be time for the Black Cats boss to throw caution at the wind by allowing his players to play a more attacking brand of football.

Whereas doing so may leave the club more open to the counter-attack, they could quite easily end up outscoring their opponents due to the fact that they have the likes of Marc McNulty, Aidan McGeady and Charlie Wyke at their disposal.