If Sunderland have 'the most talented player in the league,' please can we see more of him?

If when chasing a goal at home is not the right time to play Patrick Roberts, then when actually is?

For Sunderland fans, there were many questions that emerged from the 2-1 home defeat to West Bromwich Albion on Monday.

Why can’t Sunderland string two good halves of football together? Where was Ross Stewart? Why wasn’t the midfield strengthened to combat WBA’s growing dominance in the game? Why can’t Tony Mowbray appear to influence a game when it’s turning against his side? Are Sunderland ever going to score again from a corner?

Perhaps the most pressing one of all though is the following: If Mowbray won’t get both Amad Diallo and Patrick Roberts on the same pitch when we need a goal at home and on a winning run, when will he?

I mean, technically, I suppose he did. They were both on the same pitch for all of six minutes at the end of the game.

Still, it’s not really adding up with the whole Patrick Roberts thing right now, is it? What Mowbray is doing is not reconciling with what he is saying.

What he has said about Patrick Roberts is glowing. “I have to sit Patrick Roberts down in my office, who, in my opinion, is probably the most talented footballer in this league, yet he's not playing,” he offered last week.

“Amad's on fire at the moment and he plays in the same position.”

Fair enough. You won’t find anyone questioning Amad Diallo’s position in the Sunderland team right now. He has scored five goals in his last seven matches and been the best player on the pitch in just about all of them.

It’s the part about Roberts not being able to play because of Amad’s form that is open to question.

There can be no doubt that Roberts is at his best on the right-hand side of the attack. That doesn’t mean it’s the only position he can play, though. There is no reason at all why he couldn’t play on the left or even centrally.

In fact, he has played both positions before during his career and done fine. He has played nearly 50 times in his career on the left and centrally, so it wouldn’t be asking him to do anything he’s not done before.

Mowbray’s apparent reluctance to use Roberts of late has become even more apparent given his decision to drop Jack Clarke to the bench against West Brom. You’d think that the ‘most talented player in the league’ would at least be the first in line to come into the side in an attacking position? Apparently not. It was Elliot Embleton who got the nod.

Embleton is a good player, of course, but it still raised questions about Roberts and his current standing at the club. Mowbray’s explanation that he wanted to make the midfield ‘narrower’ was hardly convincing either – and that is even before you consider West Brom’s most affective attacker plays down their right hand side and never seems to stray more than two yards from the touchline.

When Mowbray did decide to change it in the second half, surely that was the moment for Roberts to come in? No. It was Clarke who came off the bench.

There are other options too, of course. You could start Roberts and Amad and have them switch wings throughout the game. If you want a right-footed player on the left, then there is no reason why Alex Pritchard can’t play there with Roberts or Amad more central.

It surely can’t be a simple case of ‘Amad and Roberts prefer the same position so it’s either/or.’ That doesn’t wash at all. 

You can understand Mowbray not playing them together every week. Sunderland have an awful lot of attacking talent and they are trying to develop it too. That means making opportunities for the likes of Embleton and Clarke to get minutes, and it may come at the expense of Roberts who, at the age of 26, is probably done in terms of development. Perhaps that is a key consideration here. The fact Leon Dajaku got a start ahead of him at Luton relatively recently adds weight to that theory too.

However, even if that is the reason behind Mowbray’s apparent reluctance to use Roberts more, it doesn’t stop the frustration. Nor does the fact that Roberts has featured in 18, though started just 10, of Sunderland's 22 Championship games this season. 

Because, after all, what Mowbray said about Roberts might actually be right. He could just be the most talented player in the league. So, you know, do you think we could perhaps see a bit more of him please Tony? 

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