Tony Mowbray is reluctant to throw 'raw' youngster Max Thompson in at the deep end to help Sunderland's quest for goals. The 20-year-old has scored five goals in five games for the U21s in Premier League 2 since joining from Burnley over the summer and, with senior centre-forwards Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms sidelined through injury, promoting Thompson is an option open to Mowbray.
The Sunderland boss has spoken many times of needing to 'find a way' to score goals while Stewart and Simms are out, and to that end he has tried using Alex Pritchard as a false nine in some games, and on Tuesday night against Blackpool he played on-loan Manchester United man Amad Diallo as a central striker, while Leon Dajaku has come on from the bench to play up front. However, after scoring five goals in their first two games at Reading and Watford without a striker, Sunderland's two home games against Preston and Blackpool this week ended goalless.
The search for goals continues as Sunderland head to Swansea City tomorrow, and Thompson can claim prior first-team involvement having made his Premier League debut from the bench as an 18-year-old in June 2020, albeit in the final few minutes of Burnley's 5-0 defeat at Manchester City. But while he has trained with Sunderland's senior group on several occasions, Mowbray believes he is not yet ready to play at Championship level.
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"He has trained with us on a few occasions, I'm just a bit wary of the critical nature of the position and exposing a player to it," said Mowbray. "I know that he has played in the Premier League with Burnley but right now does look a little bit young and raw to me.
"The Championship can be quite a brutal division and I wouldn't want to put him into the team at the wrong time, I'd rather put him into a team that is flourishing and scoring, and a time when I know all about the team and so I'm not gambling on putting someone in who I don't know enough about. He's done well in the training but I'm a strong believer that the position is about movement and understanding where the space on the pitch is.
"I believe strikers are all about positional play, knowing where to go on the pitch and knowing the capabilities of players on the ball and what type of pass they are going to play. When I watch him in training, I think he needs to learn these things, he's almost a bit too honest at the moment in his movements.
"The great strikers find space in the box and young players need to learn that, and that's where Max is at the moment. We've been looking at Amad and Leon as the striking options at the moment, with Max we'll see how we go.
"I don't think in my mind there's a need at this moment, but of course that could change further down the line if we're still struggling [to score]. Let's just see how we go, I'm just really wary of almost selfishly chucking a young player in, he's got a full career ahead of him, 18/20 years potentially. He has time.
"I understand that he's played in the Premier League so he's got something, but at the moment I just feel he's learning and acclimatising maybe. I've seen a young lad working really hard, trying to run the channels and trying to get on the end of things, and at this moment I don't think it's the right thing for us to do just to chuck him in."
Sunderland are likely to be without thigh injury victim Stewart until after the season resumes in early December following the World Cup break. And as yet there is no clear timescale on Simms' return after he suffered a toe problem last month.
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