Gooch, who came off the bench in Sunderland’s first two league games of the season, earned his boss Phil Parkinson’s trust and has started in his team’s last five league outings.
But the American was unable to lead his team’s attacking charge at the weekend against Portsmouth at the Stadium of Light as Sunderland suffered their first defeat of the current League One campaign by a 3-1 margin to fall behind Pompey on goal difference to sixth in the standings.
Elliott believes getting consistent top performances from a talented player like Gooch would give a massive boost to the Wearside giants’ quest for promotion this season.
The ex-Black Cats star has supreme confidence in Gooch’s abilities and hopes that proper fine tuning to his game under the watchful eye of Parkinson will bring out the best of the United States international.
“If everything clicks with him then there’s no doubt he could play at the highest level”, Elliott wrote in his Sunderland Echo column.
“Hopefully with a bit of fine tuning in his game we will get to see him play to his highest capabilities more consistently.
“If Sunderland are looking to go up this season, moments of magic from Gooch will be required more regularly than what we are seeing just now.”
Sunderland will look to bounce back from their loss at the weekend with a strong display against Rochdale in the league with the Wearside outfit set to visit the Crown Oil Arena tonight.
