JOHN O’SHEA thinks the secret to turning Sunderland’s season around could lie in being more adventurous in the penalty area.

The Irishman has helped the Black Cats become a much tighter unit since the 8-0 drubbing at Southampton in mid-October but problems have remained at the other end of the pitch.

Gus Poyet, the Sunderland boss, is looking at ways of strengthening his attacking options next month after watching his side fail to score in a Premier League game for the 11th time in 19 matches this season. He has been offered Roma’s former West Ham forward Marco Borriello.

And while reinforcements would be welcomed by all, O’Shea thinks that the team can do more to help in the attacking third – even if it means breaking away slightly from Poyet’s preference for patient build-up play.

The Sunderland skipper thinks the players at the club are capable of finding the net, although a change of approach could be for the best after being unable to breakdown ten-man Aston Villa on Sunday.

“The whole team unit is working so hard together defensively and maybe that’s why we’re lacking the final bit of energy. We’ve done a lot of work on the defensive side and that’s the balance we’ve got to find,” said O’Shea.

“The frustrating thing on Sunday was that when you’re against ten men you know you’re going to have a lot of possession but you hope to create more clear-cut chances. We got into dangerous positions and maybe we need to be that bit more positive and take people on in the box.

“Then you’re putting them under pressure to get tackles in. We want to put crosses in and make defenders make really tough clearances, rather than put it straight onto their head.

“People might think it’s all down to the strikers but it’s not just them. We have to supply them. It’s a team effort, as it is defensively.

“Connor Wickham and Adam Johnson in the first half (at Villa Park) tracked back well to help us out. Attacking-wise we need to help them out a lot more. If we can do that, we will create more chances.”

While the team press strongly to try to keep the pressure on the opposition, Sunderland’s shape means it is rare for players to break in behind opposition defenders.

Wickham had one chance like that at Villa Park after a lovely pass from Johnson, but such opportunities are few and far between. Lone striker Steven Fletcher has had to feed of occasional crosses into the box or shots from distance.

But a record of just two defeats in ten – albeit with six draws and just two wins – Sunderland are showing signs of improvement.

O’Shea said: “It’s a frustration for us at the moment. Credit to Villa on Sunday, they were down to ten men and they were always going to have a bit of a rallying call, stay together, two banks of four, get in tight, leave Christian Benteke up front and hopefully cause a few problems on the odd counter-attack.

“We just need that bit more belief and to take care of the ball in the final third towards the box a bit more. We need to get better crosses in, putting the opposition under more pressure. We did that in little spells but we didn’t do it enough.”

After the euphoria surrounding the 1-0 victory at Newcastle nine days ago, Sunderland have failed to find momentum and have followed up a defeat at home to Hull on Boxing Day with a point at Villa. O’Shea is not overly concerned ahead of the trip to title-chasing Manchester City on New Year’s Day.

“I’ve not missed many games,” said O’Shea. “Sebastien Coates has come in and made a good impression on everyone. Wes Brown and I know each other very well so we can communicate very well at the back. We’ve had little changes recently so there are things we can still improve defensively but we need to be scoring more goals.

“We were hugely disappointed against Hull when we had such a fortuitous start to the game. The manager spoke about the decisions that should have gone our way – two clear-cut penalties. We needed to get that out of our system and we bounced back well against Aston Villa.”

Injuries to Seb Larsson (ankle) and Liam Bridcutt (concussion) mean there is likely to be a change or two to the midfield atCity. Jack Rodwell, who was left out for tactical reasons at Villa, is in contention to slot in at the Etihad, where Sunderland have sold out of away tickets.