The Black Cats play host to Blackpool on Tuesday, their second home game in quick succession after the stalemate against clean sheet experts Preston North End.

 

Mowbray’s charges are currently two points and two places outside of the top six, with Blackburn, who occupy sixth place, presently separated by just eight points from Boro, who are placed 22nd and in the relegation zone.

 

 

The 58-year-old tactician believes that despite the greater role enjoyed by social media in the modern game the onus is on the managers to win football matches, as it always was.

 

Mowbray believes that everyone had Wilder down to compete in the top six with the players at his disposal and stated that it could yet prove to be the case for Middlesbrough, given how congested the league is at present.

 

 

He conceded that professional football management has turned into an emotional rollercoaster and it might take until the World Cup to see which teams in the division are strong and which ones need a good winter transfer window.

 

“I think football management is becoming harder and harder, really. I think the social media aspect of it resonates within. We all understand that we have to win football matches”, Mowbray said in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Blackpool game on Tuesday.

 

 

“At the end of the day, it’s not the opinions on social media, or the phone-ins or even the punditry.

 

“Football managers have to win football games, find a way to win.

 

“It’s an emotional rollercoaster, professional football management, these days, and we all understand you have to win games.

 

“I would have thought that Chris Wilder, with the team that he had, everybody, not me, everybody would have Middlesbrough up in the top six competing.

 

“And what I would say is that they very much could still do that because if you look at third bottom to sixth top is only five or six points.

 

“The league is really congested at the moment.

 

“A win could catapult you into the top six and a defeat could drop you down into the bottom half of the table.

 

“So, it’s a very, very tight league and it won’t be until the World Cup break when we can all take a breath and look at the table and see who is really strong and who needs to make January a good window for them.”

 

Sunderland have accumulated 16 points from eleven games and are flying high despite the absence of conventional strikers, with forwards Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms out with injury.