New signing Edouard Michut has suffered an injury setback as he builds up his fitness ready to join Sunderland's Championship campaign. The on-loan Paris St Germain midfielder suffered what head coach Tony Mowbray described as a 'slight strain' in training, which meant he was not involved in a training ground game between the first team and a side made up of players from the U18 and U21 sides.
And as a result of that injury, Mowbray says Michut is a couple of weeks behind fellow new arrivals Amad Diallo, Abdoullah Ba, and Jewison Bennette, who did play a part. "We put on a bounce game the other day against the U18s/21s," said Mowbray.
"We managed to get Jewison Bennette a game, Amad played as well, Abdoullah Ba, too. Edouard Michut has got a slight strain.
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"I think the first couple of days of training was probably a bit more intense than he's been used to recently, so he didn't play and is probably a week or two behind the others. You have to be careful with these boys.
"We gave Amad a run-out on Monday [as a substitute in the defeat at Middlesbrough] because he's had a full pre-season [with Manchester United] and is up and running a bit more. We can see the talent with the other lads, how fast they are.
"We just to need to see a bit more of them every day. If the team is functioning and doing alright, it gives you the chance to give them a bit longer on the training ground and get used to the tempo a bit more."
Mowbray is taking a patient approach with the new signings, but he is hoping they will soon be ready to play a part at first-team level. Sunderland take on Millwall at the Stadium of Light on Saturday and they will go into that game without leading scorer Ross Stewart and defender Dennis Cirkin.
Stewart suffered a thigh injury in the warm-up at the Riverside Stadium which meant he had to pull out of the game at short notice, while Cirkin came off during the second half having suffered a hamstring problem. Stewart is expected to be out for between six and eight weeks, while it is hoped that Cirkin could be back within a fortnight.
With Stewart out, Sunderland will be looking to on-loan Everton striker Ellis Simms to add to the three goals he has scored so far, although Mowbray may also change system to one that does not rely on two out-and-out centre-forwards. Mowbray said: "It's a big blow for Ross, first and foremost, and of course a big blow for the club.
"He's generally been the guy on the end of the chances, and sticking them in the net. He's done very, very well.
"These injuries are always an opportunity for somebody else though. I don't want to bring out all the cliches, but that's what football is.
"I've talked to them [the players] collectively, and we have to find a way to come together and score goals. If we have to play slightly differently to score the goals, then so be it.
"The balance of the team might have to be slightly different, moving from having two big, strong mobile strikers at the top end to maybe having one striker of that nature and a lot of technical players around them. We'll try to adjust things to find the best way to score goals with the players we've got available."
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