Tony Mowbray has explained his decision to rest Patrick Roberts at Rotherham - insisting playing him every three days will only see him pick up an injury. Roberts was named on the bench at the New York Stadium as one of three changes to the side that drew against Bristol City at the weekend.
And without the ex-Manchester City forward, and with Sunderland also changing formation, Mowbray's men looked out-of-sorts in the first half against relegation strugglers Rotherham, who led at half-time through Ollie Rathbone's strike. They went two down in the second half when Shane Ferguson scored, and while they then halved the deficit as on-loan Leeds United striker Joe Gelhardt scored his first goal for the club, it was not until Mowbray then made a triple substitution - which included bringing on Roberts - that Sunderland began to look more like their usual selves going forward.
But with Sunderland playing virtually every three days at present, Mowbray is conscious that he cannot keep on asking Roberts to start games. "Otherwise [if I do], these players are going to get injured," said Mowbray.
