This week’s column came from Craig Clark.

PACE. It’s always been a vital asset in football, particularly so in the modern game.

In the late 1990s, I remember Michael Gray being employed as a man-marker by Peter Reid to combat the rapidity of a young Kieron Dyer, then plying his trade at Ipswich Town.

Gray’s own pace was an asset that day at the Stadium of Light and it’s something we sorely lack now.

Sunderland are faced with myriad issues this season, a key one being a lack of quick players in the squad.

Ironically, the only player with any pace among the current bunch is, like Gray, a left back. If it weren’t for Patrick van Aanholt, this side would be lacking in anything capable of covering ground at speed.

Maybe that’s unfair, Will Buckley is also quick, but he’s also been injured and/or completely useless this season, so it’s easy to forget him. At least he can console himself with not being a part of the latest Sunderland horror show.

Read the rest here.