The Chronicle journalist James Hunter criticised the performance of Elliot Embleton as Sunderland lost 2-0 away at Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday night.

The Lowdown: Another loss

The Stadium of Light outfit's return to the Championship has been somewhat of a mixed bag, with their defeat against the Rovers their fifth of a campaign which has also seen them achieve five wins and five draws in their opening 15 games.

A fine curling effort from Ben Brereton Diaz in the first half, coupled up with a Scott Wharton goal in the second, were enough to give the hosts all three points against the Wearside club.

The Latest: Embleton criticised

Writing in his latest player ratings piece for The Chronicle, Hunter was particularly critical of Embleton's performance, claiming that he 'struggled to make an impact' on the match.

The midfielder, who came in for the injured Lynden Gooch, was given a measly 5/10 overall rating by the journalist, the lowest out of any of his team-mates.

The Verdict: Did not take his chance

Sadly, Embleton did not take his chance to impress Tony Mowbray in place of the injured Gooch.

The Englishman was hardly an attacking threat from midfield, with the statistics backing Hunter's verdict - the midfielder recorded no shots on target and just one key pass, while defensively he made no interceptions and gave the ball away a total of nine times (SofaScore).

With the Black Cats' next fixture at home to Burnley on Saturday afternoon, Embleton may now be worrying over whether he is going to keep his place in the starting line-up.