Tony Mowbray says Patrick Roberts is so talented it is 'scary' - and has challenged him to produce the end product that Sunderland need while Ross Stewart is out of action. Roberts left Manchester City to join Sunderland on a short-term deal in January, and after helping the club win promotion to the Championship he signed a new two-year contract in the summer.
So far, however, he has started only one league game this term, and that came when he was drafted into the side at short notice when Stewart suffered an injury in the warm-up at Middlesbrough last week. Roberts has been on the periphery largely because of the system that previous boss Alex Neil opted to play, and which Mowbray stuck with when he took over.
But with leading scorer Stewart expected to be missing for between six and eight weeks with a thigh injury - and with no direct replacement to partner on-loan Everton man Ellis Simms - Mowbray is likely to change formation, and that could see attacking midfielder Roberts given more opportunities in the weeks ahead. "I don't think anybody can deny the talent that Patrick Roberts has," said Mowbray, whose side takes on Reading at the Madejski Stadium tonight.
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"Just watching him in training over the past few days, it is scary how good he is - the ball sticks to his left foot. He is a wonderful talent but he has to produce, and he knows that.
"What I've found about him is that he is a good guy, he understands decision-making. My first question to him when I got here a couple of weeks ago was 'Pat, what's going on? Why are you not playing in this team?'
"It's almost comical really that Pat Roberts, with the talent he has got, isn't in this team. He's a nice kid, he's not a sulky lad who feels he is entitled and he should be playing, he knows he has to earn the right in this team.
"I'll start producing their data for them and use it as a motivational tool - how many shots, how many assists, how many goals, how many passes in the final third, how many passes into the box - and then compare it to the players who are the best in this league. And in the longer-term, how does Patrick Roberts compare to Kevin de Bruyne on forward passes or shots at goal?
"They need targets to aim for, I think. You can't deny that Patrick is wonderful with the ball at his feet, but we need end product - shots and crosses and assists and goals.
"Having played and managed at Celtic, I saw Patrick when he was there and he was amazing there, when he was really confident and believed in his talent and people believed in him. We have to keep encouraging him, keep giving him opportunities, but he has to produce and he knows that."
Mowbray also revealed that defender Tosin Adarabioyo, who was with Roberts at Man City, and later played on loan at Blackburn under Mowbray, had been in touch to ask why the 25-year-old was not in the side.
Mowbray said: "Tosin Adarabioyo phoned me and said 'Patrick Roberts is magic' - those were his actual words. 'What a footballer you have got there.'
"I had Tosin on loan at Blackburn, he's now at Fulham in the Premier League, but he was at Man City with Patrick. He said he [Roberts] he was unbelievable, one of the best players he had ever seen, yet he has hardly started this season."
Mowbray took the point about Neil's shape leaving Roberts on the sidelines, but has indicated that he will be looking to find a way to include him in the side.
He said: "He [Neil] could have played 3-4-3, because you can play whatever formation you want. For me, you have to try to get your best footballers and the ones who impact the game the most, into the team.
"Alex probably wanted to make it really tight defensively in a new league so he shored it up and made it really tight, which left a really wonderfully talented footballer like Patrick Roberts out of the team. I played all systems at Blackburn. You could play 3-4-3 with one nine and two tens, or two nines and a ten, I don't see why you can't do that, really.
"If you look in terms of pitch coverage, if you play with a centre-forward and two tens behind him like [Alex] Pritchard and Roberts, then you have a solid midfield with wingbacks behind."
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