Tony Mowbray has tough choices ahead as Sunderland's injury situation continues to clear and with Ross Stewart ready to rejoin the Black Cats' Championship campaign. Sunderland went into the World Cup break battling a lengthy injury list, with Stewart, Lynden Gooch, Dan Ballard, Dennis Cirkin, Aji Alese, and Edouard Michut, all on the sidelines.
Gooch, Alese, and Cirkin returned for the 3-0 win against Millwall last weekend, and Stewart is expected to be back in contention for Monday's home game against West Bromwich Albion, with Ballard and Michut not far behind. And for Mowbray that means he will face differrent dilemmas, with a lack of options giving way to a surfeit of selection decisions.
Mowbray is a big believer in the value of football as a squad game but he knows that part of the challenge is to ensure that players not included in the starting XI realise that they still have a part to play. It is an issue Mowbray brought up recently when he revealed he has spoken to Patrick Roberts, who has found himself on the bench of late as on-loan Manchester United man Amad has taken on a starring role with four goals and an assist in his last six games.
