Burstow had not featured under Beale until his introduction as a half-time substitute in the 1-1 draw with Rotherham United on Friday night. The 20-year-old is one of four summer striking acquisitions that is yet to get off the mark for Sunderland, and he has found his game time increasingly limited over the last month. That leaves both Chelsea and Sunderland with a decision to make this month, though having already played for his parent club this season, he cannot return to Stamford Bridge and then go back out on loan to another club.
Beale says he is working closely with the strikers on a daily basis and so is yet to make any definitive judgement: “I haven’t had that discussion, I’ve just come in and I’m having a look at these players.
“I gave Mason a go tonight, I gave young Eliezer a go off the bench against Coventry City last week. I’m looking at the boys in the training, it’s my first time working with them and it’s been spoken about enough that the strikers we brought in haven’t scored yet.
“I’m looking and seeing and we’ll assess as the window opens what it is that we’ll do, but my focus at the moment is working with them in training, getting them in front of the goal and scoring. There’s a lot of work going on in the background with these strikers and I think it’s clear that as a team, that we need to convert our possession into more shots and then more goals. Before coming in I think we had the highest expected-goals in the league but that only matters if you’re putting that on the scoreboard.
“I want the ball to go in the back of the net, as the away team at Rotherham we had real difficulties in the game and yet we still managed to have 70% possession. I’m expecting us to work the goalkeeper more than we did and take some of the burden off Jack. At the moment, he’s on fire and long may that continue.”
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