After working with Jack Clarke on Wearside, Stoke City manager Alex Neil has been reviewing the player’s Sunderland form.
Sunderland winger Jack Clarke was able to recover his confidence after a lack of first-team play at Tottenham, according to Stoke manager Alex Neil.
The 22-year-old wideman joined Sunderland on loan in January 2022 before joining the club permanently after the Black Cats were promoted from the third division.
Clarke missed only one Championship game for Sunderland last season and is the division’s joint leading scorer this season, with seven goals in 11 league outings. The winger, who made 14 appearances for Stoke City on loan in 2021, will aim to add to his total against the Potters in Saturday’s Championship match.
When asked about Clarke, Neil stated, “He’s fantastic.” Jack was certainly here on loan for a while, and he has that one-of-a-kind one-on-one skill to remove an opponent. Doesn’t that throw a wrench in the works? If you can get the ball to him, he can skip past someone, and then another player must come out, freeing up someone else in the middle of the box.
“Jack had obviously had the immediate highs of Leeds as a young player then went to Tottenham. I think by his own admission he probably wasn’t quite ready to go and play at that level. So the best thing that happened for him was actually going to Sunderland in League One. I think at that point he needed to get back in love with the game, show everybody what he was capable of doing and build up his confidence and belief in himself.”
Along with Clarke, Patrick Roberts, 26, is another Sunderland player who has revived his career on Wearside, while Neil is wary of the threat they will pose. “I think that spell for him and for Patrick on the other side was particularly important for them,” added Neil when discussing Sunderland’s time in League One. “They could really get at defences and show the qualities they have. I think that the whole group has taken that and run with it, coming up into the Championship and showing that they’re extremely talented.”
Clarke missed just one Championship game for Sunderland last season and is the division’s joint leading scorer this season, with seven goals in 11 league outings. The winger, who made 14 appearances for Stoke City on loan in 2021, will now aim to add to his total against the Potters in Saturday’s Championship match.
When asked about Clarke, Neil stated, “He’s excellent.” Jack was certainly here on loan for a while, and he has that special one-on-one ability to eliminate an opponent. Doesn’t that mess with tactics? If you can get the ball to him, he can skip past someone, and then another player needs to come out, freeing up someone else in the middle of the box.
Leave a Reply