Sessegnon still a key man for Sunderland - Colback

The 22-year-old believes he and his team-mates need to work harder to bring the best out of the Benin international, who is now without a goal in his last eight matches

Sunderland midfielder Jack Colback insists team-mate Stephane Sessegnon will re-find his scoring touch after the Benin international made it eight games without a goal following The Black Cats' 3-0 defeat to champions Manchester City.

Sessegnon, 28, chipped in with eight goals for Martin O'Neill's side last term, but his dip in form has coincided with striker Steven Fletcher’s impressive start to life at his new club.

Nevertheless, Colback is adamant Sessegnon will get back to his best form, and believes his team-mates need to help him get there.

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“Sessegnon was magnificent last year,” Colback told The Northern Echo. “I thought for a lot of the season that he carried us a bit if I'm honest. On his day, he is a fantastic player, something he has shown for us lots of times.

“We just need to get him in the game a bit more – and not just him, we need to get more of the ball to Fletcher, [James] McClean and [Adam] Johnson so we can use the threatening part of our game a bit more. We haven't done that enough.

 “It's everyone's responsibility to feed the ball in to Stephane. He gets himself out of some impossible situations sometimes, when you don't expect him to get out, but we need to give him better service so he can go on and make things happen.”

Sunderland have only lost once in the Premier League and currently sit in 13th in the table having taken seven points from their opening six games, but Colback believes there is still room for improvement.

“We've only lost once, so that's not bad,” he added. “We had three away games right at the start and took points from all of them, although we did take the lead in all of them and only took a point.

“That's why I think we're a little disappointed with the way things have gone in terms of drawing matches. But it's been an okay start to the season and the boys are still upbeat.”