Aji Alese says he is happy to keep wreaking havoc with opposition defences

Sunderland defender on Reading role: "I was just thinking to myself, ‘Let’s get into a central position..."

Aji Alese says he is happy to keep using his ‘attacking sense’ to wreak havoc on opposition defenders following his nomadic role for Sunderland against Reading.

The left-back was given free reign to get into forward positions in the second half against the Royals, often just remaining in the centre-forward position at times.

He nearly got himself a couple of goals from doing that, and he says he is more than happy to keep offering that option – especially against opposing team who show little attacking intent of their own.

“Even though I’m a defender, I do like to get forward and help out in attack,” Alese said.

“I do have an attacking sense, and in games like this, when we felt like we needed an extra body up the pitch, I’m willing to do the running and help the team on the offensive side.

“At half-time, the manager said to me, ‘With the way they’re sitting in, there’s no point you playing behind the ball as well’. He wanted me to play higher up the pitch. In the first few minutes of the second half, we tried it and got some success, so we continued it throughout the second half.

“I haven’t really played quite like that before, but we just felt that with the way they were playing, we needed me to get on the last line, whether it be out wide or centrally, to try to pose a threat.

“When Clarkey (Jack Clarke) was out wide, I was just thinking to myself, ‘Let’s get into a central position’. There were a few occasions where I could have got in, so I just carried on trying to play a bit higher.”

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