GUS POYET has warned Sunderland’s attacking players they might have to modify their game if they are to improve on their desultory goalscoring record in the first two months of the season.

The Black Cats head into this afternoon’s home game with Stoke City with all of their frontline strikers still searching for their first Premier League goal of the campaign. No Sunderland player has scored more than once in the league, and last weekend’s goalless draw with Swansea City means the Wearsiders have failed to find the target in three of their last four league matches.

The contrast to the final few weeks of last season is stark, and Poyet concedes the failure to re-sign Fabio Borini has seriously affected Sunderland’s performances in front of goal this term.

Without Borini, there is a lack of pace and mobility in the Black Cats’ forward line, and with Jack Rodwell still finding his feet in a central-midfield role, there has also been a failure to provide adequate attacking support from midfield.

“I think we had a style, but I think Fabio gave us that balance between being a wide player and a striker,” said Poyet. “We don’t have that now. People were telling me that Ricky Alvarez was his substitute, but that is not his position.

“The rest of the players need to stand up now. The midfielders – Jack Rodwell, Seb Larsson, Jordi Gomez, Will Buckley – and the strikers, they are the most important ones. They need to compensate for the ones that we are missing.”

Unlike Borini, both Connor Wickham and Steven Fletcher prefer to receive the ball to feet rather than make runs in behind an opposition defence.

This season, too much of Sunderland’s play has faltered in front of the opposition back four, and Poyet has been working on the training ground in an attempt to modify his side’s attacking play.

The Uruguayan remains reluctant to play two centre-forwards alongside each other, so if it is to be Wickham as a lone striker again this afternoon, there is a need for the 21-year-old to be more penetrative in terms of his running.

Similarly, if Buckley and Adam Johnson are to retain their positions on the flank, they will be instructed to cut inside to provide support rather than stick rigidly to their wing roles.

“It’s down to all of us as a front four or five,” said Johnson. “We’re all getting chances, but we’re not taking them and our final ball to each other is maybe a little bit off.

“Fabio was a very good striker for us and one of his strengths was how he ran in behind defenders a lot. That’s not the natural game for a lot of the forwards here at present and it’s something we’re trying to work on. Everyone wants the ball to feet and we’re trying to change that at the moment.”

Sunderland go into today’s game a point and a place above the relegation zone, having drawn five of their opening six Premier League matches.

Bitterly disappointing as they drew 0-0 at Burnley a fortnight ago, they were much better in last weekend’s game with Swansea, even if the final outcome was the same.

The wild inconsistencies that characterised much of last season have been eradicated, and Sunderland are now much more reliable than they were in the early months of Poyet’s reign.

Their failure to claim a victory remains a concern, although their head coach insists they are only a fraction away from being a very successful team.

“We just need a break,” he said. “I am not going to compare it to the Newcastle situation, but if Jack Colback had scored the other day (when he hit the post against Stoke), who knows. It is one action, one shot, and sometimes that is all it takes to change your season.

“It can be a goal, a decision, a mistake, something done by the referee or whatever. We just need that break and, with a little break, it could be fantastic.”

Wes Brown has been passed fit for today’s game, and is expected to partner John O’Shea at the heart of defence with Santiago Vergini dropping down to the bench.