Will Grigg has been at Sunderland for almost a year but he is still yet to make the kind of impact he or the coaching staff would have wanted, or anticipated.

The striker has consistently scored goals in his career, particularly at League One level, but for whatever reason it hasn’t worked for him at Sunderland, and he has been the target of much criticism as a result.

His ineffectiveness was badly felt last season as he failed to provide the goals he was meant to in order to sufficiently replace Josh Maja – with five strikes in 2018/19.

The Northern Ireland international has followed that up by scoring only one league goal this year, and it is unsurprising that the Black Cats are struggling as a result.

However, could things be the other way round, and is Grigg struggling because of a lack of service from his underperforming teammates? That is the question many fans are debating.

The problem of a lack of creativity that one fan alludes to is certainly a major issue for Phil Parkinson, and it means Grigg’s opportunities to score are few and far between, which often leaves him helpless.

Sunderland’s main three centre-midfielders – Max Power, George Dobson and Grant Leadbitter – have offered an average of 0.4, 0.3 and 1.3 key passes per league game respectively, and that demonstrates why the striker has so few goals.

As a result, he has been scapegoated a little, and although he needs to offer more himself it is unfair to ridicule him and suggest that he needs to leave, as the following fans have done.

Grigg has ultimately failed to replace Maja and what he brought to the team, and Sunderland have never really recovered from losing the youngster.