RICKY SBRAGIA has claimed that Sunderland lack the strength in depth to feel comfortable about changing things regularly, despite two years of heavy recruitment on Wearside.

Sbragia has witnessed the Black Cats drop to within three points of the relegation zone after a run of six matches without a win; losing their last three.

With Premier League leaders Manchester United next on the agenda at the Stadium of Light this Saturday, the situation could be even worse if they fail to have an important say on the title race.

But if Sunderland’s fans are expecting the manager to ring the changes in response to the worrying recent run of poor form, Sbragia feels there is little room for manouevre within his squad.

Having taken the decision to offload El-Hadji Diouf, Pascal Chimbonda, Ross Wallace, Graham Kavanagh and Rade Prica permanently since the turn of the year, the size of his playing staff has decreased.

Darren Ward, Michael Chopra, Jordan Henderson, Liam Miller and Roy O’Donovan were all allowed to head out initially on loan in January, further reducing in his options.

At West Ham on Saturday – where he fielded one of his two January additions, Tal Ben-Haim – he was able to bring back Craig Gordon for Marton Fulop between the posts, although he claims that the changes he did make were nowhere near the amount he would have liked to have made.

“I just felt we needed a change in goal and I’d probably have made a few more changes if I’d had the personnel,”

said Sbragia.

“A few of them were away (with their countries) and a few of them were saying they were stiff and it’s a problem to us.

“We haven’t got the biggest of squads and we haven’t got a squad full of talent. We felt against West Ham that the 12 players who trained over the last two weeks would be the ones we started with.”

Frustration is growing on Wearside after the sudden drop down the table, just weeks after Kieran Richardson claimed after the draw with Tottenham on March 7 that they still had an eye on a European place.

Such a finish now seems a million miles away, with worry within the boardroom and in the stands that the slump will not be addressed in time for them to climb clear of the bottom three.

With seven matches remaining Sunderland are just three points clear of rivals Newcastle, who sit a place below.

And, while Sbragia went on a scouting mission during the international break, there is a determination to preserve top-flight status before key decisions are made on incomings and further outgoings before the summer.

Such a stance has left fullback Greg Halford unclear about his future, after a successful season-long loan at Sheffield United.

The 24-year-old failed to make a name for himself at Sunderland after his £3.5m move from Reading in the summer of 2007 and was loaned out by Roy Keane.

Keane’s departure has raised the possibility of a return, something that Halford is not ruling out ahead of the Blades’ Championship promotion run-in.

“I knew I was going to be here for the year and I moved into a house as quickly as possible to try to get some roots down,” said Halford.

“I am open-minded about the summer. It’s down to the manager whether he wants to sign me. Nothing’s been said.

I’ve two years left on my Sunderland contract so we will just have to see what happens.

They are keeping an eye on me.”