Tony Mowbray has backed Ellis Simms to 'rise to the challenge' and take a leading role in the absence of Ross Stewart. The Black Cats are expected to be without their leading scorer Stewart for between six and eight weeks after he suffered a thigh injury in the warm-up ahead of Monday's defeat at Middlesbrough.
And that means more will be expected of on-loan Everton man Simms - who has scored three goals in seven outings so far - given that he is now the club's only fit, senior, centre-forward. "I think he will rise to the challenge," said Mowbray, "as long as he does not put too much of a burden on himself.
"That's why the rest have to step up as well. I think for Ellis, the biggest challenge is to play between the sticks when the chances are created.
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"I would never tell him not to work hard but sometimes strikers who work too hard taking themselves away from the goal and chasing down channels , they are the ones crossing the damn thing when they should be in the middle putting it in the net. That is my message to him really - be a bit more selfish between the sticks.
"You have to work hard and I am sure he will because it is in his nature but be selfish enough to get in between the posts and finish the chances off. How did Pep Guardiola change Raheem Sterling from a five, six or seven goals per season player into a 25-30 goal a season striker?
"I don't think he was teaching him anything about where he put his feet, it was about where he had to be. And basically, he now plays between the sticks and scores tap-ins every season.
"We have to get Ellis between the posts, whether he bundles the ball into the net or heads it. He just has to be there to finish it."
Stewart scored 26 goals last season to power Sunderland to promotion, and had scored five goals in seven outings in the Championship this term. Mowbray says there is no point pretending he will not be badly missed in his absence, but he believes he has players who can come to the fore and help Simms deliver goals in the coming weeks.
He said: "Ross can run in behind, he’s a physical threat inside the box, he can head the ball, he can run, he's strong, he has that instinct to get in that six yard box. So it’s wrong to say 'We'll be all right, we won't miss him' because we will miss him.
"But the others have to try and fill the voids that are going to be there. You can't ask Patrick Roberts to be as strong and as big as Ross but you can ask him to break into the box and get in there so that when he goes wide and [Jack] Clarke is taking his full back on, to arrive in the box because if he fizzes it along the ground, you don't have to be 6ft 4in to put it in the net.
"But you do have to be brave enough to break the lines and get in the box. This is what we're talking to them about really.
"Let's not have loads of the ball around their box, they have five men behind the ball, we never actually play behind them or have a shot at goal. We have to go into the areas Ross Stewart goes into and if it is not Patrick Roberts or [Alex] Pritchard being able to sprint like him in behind, then the ones who can run fast, the likes of Clarke or a full-back overlapping have to sprint in behind and the quality players have to play the ball in and we have to get behind teams and hurt them really.
"We only have Ellis really [as a direct replacement for Stewart], but we're changing the whole dynamic because we've been playing with two strikers. Because when Stewart plays, if you ignore Ellis, he is going to hurt you.
"A lot of Boro supporters said to me how much they liked our big centre forward [Simms] and thought he caused problems. You have to respect those two powerful lads are a threat and yet I don't see a replacement in the squad.
"I don’t see [Amad] Diallo being a replacement for Ross Stewart. He is a totally different type of player.
"And I don’t see the young Costa Rican [Jewison Bennette] being a replacement because he is just a right, dynamic, fast dribbler of the ball. He hasn’t really got those physical qualities so we probably have to find a slightly different way to play and create different type of chances but still make sure we get enough bodies into the box to score the goals when the chances are created.
"We can’t deny it has [diminished our attacking threat] and it would be wrong for me to say 'oh, we'll be fine without him' because he is a loss."
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