What do Sunderland have to do to get back to winning ways against West Brom?

TIGHTEN UP THE DEFENCE

Given the manner in which Sunderland collapsed at home to Palace seven days ago, improving things at the back is an obvious place for David Moyes to start.

Papy Djilobodji has looked all at sea in the majority of his outings in a Sunderland shirt, and the 27-year-old’s place in the starting line-up must be under serious threat.

Moyes could opt to replace him with John O’Shea, although the Black Cats boss is clearly concerned by the veteran centre-half’s lack of pace. West Brom striker Salomon Rondon tends to play on the shoulder of the last defender, and would surely look to target O’Shea if he was named in a flat back four.

The alternative is to start with O’Shea, drop one of Sunderland’s three central midfielders and switch to three at the back, with Javier Manquillo and Patrick van Aanholt operating as wing-backs. Moyes claims he signed Djilobodji with half a mind to playing him on the left of a back three – tomorrow might well be the day to switch to that system.

CONTINUE TO PROVIDE A RELIABLE SUPPLY LINE TO JERMAIN DEFOE

While plenty has gone wrong in Sunderland’s opening six league games, Jermain Defoe’s performances have provided a rare highlight. Last weekend’s brace made it four goals for the season, and Defoe continues to look by far the Black Cats’ best bet of breaking down an opposition defence.

The key is to provide him with the ammunition he needs to score. Sunderland’s central-midfield unit tends to have a defensive outlook rather than an attacking one, with Jan Kirchhoff and Lee Cattermole focused on shutting down their opponents rather than breaking towards the box.

Didier Ndong is slightly more attacking, but much of the onus for feeding Defoe falls on Sunderland’s wide players. With Adnan Januzaj and Steven Pienaar unavailable because of injury, Duncan Watmore and Wahbi Kazri could be involved tomorrow – they should be instructed to deliver the ball to Defoe at every available opportunity.

Speaking after the Palace defeat, Defoe said: “We put more crosses into the box, which is what the manager wanted.” That policy should be repeated against West Brom.

PRESS AS HIGH UP THE FIELD AS POSSIBLE

One of the key problems in the final half hour of last weekend’s game was that Sunderland’s  players dropped far too deep, with the back four pretty much sitting on the edge of their own six-yard box in the closing stages.

That invited Crystal Palace’s players to attack them, and was a major factor in the Black Cats’ subsequent defeat. Tomorrow, Moyes needs to make sure his players are closing down much further up the field.

Sam Allardyce took a great deal of pride in the way in which he turned one of the least-energetic sides into the Premier League into one of the hardest working, and Moyes needs to get back to those levels.

That was clearly his focus on the training ground this week, with Victor Anichebe admitting: “The gaffer is not taking any prisoners now. He is getting into everyone.” There can be no passengers when you are sitting at the bottom of the table.

UNSETTLE JAMES McCLEAN

Sunderland supporters have a love-hate relationship with McClean – they used to love him, now they hate him. That could be a factor if the Irishman is named in Tony Pulis’ starting line-up tomorrow afternoon.

Tensions boiled over in the wake of Sunderland’s defeat at the Hawthorns last season, with McClean celebrating in front of the Wearside fans and squaring up to both Cattermole and Danny Graham in the centre-circle after the game.

In the previous 90 minutes, however, he had been dreadful, with the taunts from the Sunderland fans clearly getting to him as he tried too hard to make an impact. In all his appearances against the Black Cats since leaving the Stadium of Light, it is hard to remember McClean having a good game.

That is significant, as the winger is a key part of Pulis’ preferred system. If Sunderland’s supporters and players can once again knock him off his stride, one of West Brom’s key attacking threats will have been neutered.

IGNORE THE STATISTICS

If August and September have been dreadful months for Sunderland in the last few seasons, then October hasn’t been an awful lot better. Moyes needs to eradicate the perception that the Black Cats do not get going until they are well and truly in the mire.

Last season, Sunderland only won one of their three league games in October (the 3-0 victory at Newcastle), and in the previous campaign, they also took three points from a possible nine in the month. One of their October defeats in the 2014-15 campaign, however, was the 8-0 embarrassment at Southampton.

In 2013-14, Sunderland won one from three in October (one of the defeats was a 4-0 thumping at Swansea), while in 2012-13 they didn’t win any of their three October matches.

The pattern is one of barely perceptible improvement after a dreadful start. With matches against Stoke and West Ham following tomorrow’s game, October could be a decisive month this time around. Sunderland desperately need to ensure it starts with a victory.