Journalist James Copley has revealed his disappointment over Sunderland's inability to bring in another striker during January.

The Lowdown: Sunderland are threadbare

The Black Cats lost Ellis Simms at the beginning of the year as Everton decided to exercise their recall option in his loan deal, although he's hardly been used since returning to Goodison Park.

Sunderland's misery was further compounded when it was confirmed that Ross Stewart would be out for the rest of the season after suffering an injury to his Achilles during the FA Cup draw against Fulham.

However, Tony Mowbray's side decided it was best to only bring in youngster Joe Gelhardt in on loan, with the Leeds United ace having just 19 games of Championship experience under his belt as he is tasked with leading the line for Sunderland this season.

The Latest: Lack of strikers is a worry

The decision from Sunderland hasn't necessarily gone down well with some people - including Copley - who tweeted about his disappointment around the striker situation and how the club are well-stocked in every other area apart from at centre-forward.

He wrote: 'The major frustration is that Sunderland are well-stocked with clear succession planning in most positions. This doesn't negate the good work done generally (and there have been large slices of bad luck too), but it is still disappointing. Been an issue for a year now."

The Verdict: A risky strategy from Sunderland

Given that Stewart's injury was sustained with plenty of days left in the transfer window, it is quite bizarre that the Sunderland hierarchy didn't see fit to hand Tony Mowbray another option at centre-forward.

The fact that Gelhardt hasn't played much first-team football this season - he's started just one game in the league this term - means he will have a huge amount of pressure on his shoulders starting on Saturday.

Sunderland are playing a very risky game during this second half of the season as they had a very real chance of finishing in the play-offs places and remain just a few points off the top six, but with just one fit striker on the books, that would now appear to be a very tall order.