Sunderland star man 'needed a breather,' explains Tony Mowbray

Tony Mowbray has explained the decision to drop Patrick Roberts to the Sunderland bench against Rotherham.

Tony Mowbray said Patrick Roberts was left out of the Sunderland side at Rotherham because he ‘needed a breather.’

Roberts has been Sunderland’s best player of late, but he was dropped to the bench as the Black Cats sank to a demoralising 2-1 defeat at Rotherham.

He came off the bench in the second half and Sunderland immediately improved, but that only raised more questions about why he was omitted from the starting line-up.

However, with Sunderland playing six games in just seven games, Mowbray has admitted the players are struggling with fatigue and Roberts was one of the ones most at risk from injury.

“These players are going to get injured unless we’re careful,” Mowbray said. “They’re not robots – they can’t play every three days.

“That would have been seven games in a row for Patrick, playing consecutively every three or four days, so you have to give them a breather.

“Yet you see the impact of a player of his talent when he comes onto the pitch.

“It’s okay. Listen, we haven’t lost away from home since October. It’s not a problem for us, it’s fine, it’s just that we don’t like getting beat.”

Sunderland are in action again on Saturday when they travel to Coventry, and there is every chance Roberts will be back in the starting line-up for it.  

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