Power Rankings: Sunderland’s outstanding talisman sky-rockets to our top spot - fans love him!

In case you missed it two weeks ago, we’ve revamped our Power Rankings for the 2019-20 season. This year we combining player ratings from fans, the notorious on-the-whistle ratings and Roker Report writers’ grades to give every Sunderland player a combined score out of 50 for each game.

Every Thursday we’ll be releasing our Power Rankings based off these scores for that two-week cluster of matches - and this week we’ve pushed back the article to Friday thanks to Sunderland’s rare Wednesday fixture against Burnley in the League Cup.

Our inaugural champion was Marc McNulty who scored 102 points through Sunderland’s first three matches of the season. Our new striker was the only player to comfortably average above a 6/10 rating after Sunderland’s disappointing start to their second term in League One.

These Power Rankings cover the Black Cats’ winning streak against Portsmouth, Rochdale, AFC Wimbledon and Burnley.

Our contributors this fortnight were: @aidanscott16, @maxmason78 , @flaptingss , @EddieSAFCx, @1JonathanWalker and @JoeAStar. Also, to ensure I had five scores for the Burnley game I used Phil Smith’s and James Hunter’s on-the-whistle rankings.

Check out who finished where below.

Photo by Chloe Knott - Danehouse/Getty Images

Power Rankings

1: - Charlie Wyke (148 pts) (14) -A dominant factor in all four matches, Wyke coasted to the top spot of our Power Rankings, displaying his physicality, smart hold up play and creative intelligence across the fortnight.

2: - Lynden Gooch (132 pts) (2) - Gooch benefits from being a starter in all four matches and overcame quiet performances at Rochdale and against Wimbledon to leapfrog Sunderland’s League One standouts.

3: - Luke O’Nien (129 pts) (10) - Like Gooch, O’Nien has raced into the top three by virtue of playing in all four of Sunderland’s victories.

4: - Will Grigg (122 pts) (6) - Despite his patchy form and ostensibly brittle confidence, Jack Ross has continued to play Grigg and that is why he lands so high on these rankings. Grigg also impressed off the bench at Rochdale and netted the first goal in Sunderland’s uplifting League Cup triumph.

5: - Alim Ozturk (115 pts) (17) - Ozturk was second only to Wyke in this fortnight’s standings before being given the night off at Burnley. He still ranks highly here for his exemplary defensive showings in League One.

6: - Jordan Willis (114 pts) (4) - Like his defensive partner, Willis was on Wyke’s coattails prior to Ross’ rotation. He still scores highly after forming what could be a formidable pairing with Ozturk.

Photo by Steven Hadlow/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

7: - Chris Maguire (112 pts) (3) - It’s a testament to how good Sunderland have been across the past fortnight that our hattrick hero is down at 7^th. The consistency of our centre backs, Ross’ rotation and a sub-par showing at Rochdale also played a part.

8: - Aiden McGeady (107 pts) (5) - Sunderland won four straight matches and Aiden McGeady isn’t one of the obvious standout players, that has to be good news for Ross and his coaching staff.

9: - Jon McLaughlin (105 pts) (11) - Still awaiting that first clean sheet, but McLaughlin scored much higher than in our first edition, he looked back to his authoritative best, especially in the vital victory over Portsmouth.

10: - Grant Leadbitter (105 pts) (17) - Back in the first team and back in our top ten after three impressive performances at the back of Sunderland’s midfield.

11: - Max Power (96 pts) (13) - Power has split voters with his performances over the past fortnight, but still earned enough credit to sit at 11^th.

12: - Dylan McGeouch (96 pts) (9) - McGeouch’s average score of just over 6/10 reflects his status as super sub in recent league matches, good thing he reminded Ross of all his qualities starring against a Premier League side on Wednesday.

13: - Conor McLaughlin (92 pts) (7) - Recovered from a poor showing at Rochdale to score well here, McLaughlin showed his best qualities, playing in his proper position in our crazy League Cup clash.

14: - Denver Hume (80 pts) (15) - One of the top scorers against Burnley, Hume has impressed greatly since reclaiming his place as first-choice left back.

15: - George Dobson (45 pts) (8) - One of Wednesday’s main heroes, Dobson would have been much higher here if he’d had more of a look-in in our league matches.

16: - Jack Baldwin (36 pts) (21) - When Joel Lynch was brought in this writer thought he’d probably never see Baldwin play for Sunderland again. Not only did he play his first minutes of the season, he was among Sunderland’s best in a memorable win at Turf Moor.

17: Elliot Embleton (35pts) 18: Tom Flanagan (35 pts) 19: Lee Burge (35 pts) 20: Marc McNulty (34 pts) 21: Joel Lynch (0 points) 22: Duncan Watmore (0 points) 23: Ethan Robson (0 points) 24: Benji Kimpioka (0 pts) 25: Bali Mumba (0 pts)