Jewison Bennette 'unable to strike a ball' following injury - Tony Mowbray
Injury kept Jewison Bennette out of the Sunderland squad for the home win over Blackburn, Tony Mowbray has confirmed.
Bennette has not really featured much since impressing at the World Cup with Costa Rica, although it was still a surprise to see him not on the bench for the visit of Blackburn.
That, though, was down to an injury sustained in training and although he will travel with the Sunderland squad for the games against Wigan and Blackpool this week, Mowbray does not sound hopeful of him being involved.
"Jewison didn't train for three or four days," Mowbray said, although he does not sound overly concerned.
"He took a kick right on the top of his foot in training and it was sore, he was hobbling, and he couldn't strike the ball. We took a decision to leave him out to get him back fit again.
"He is travelling with us, but he has missed maybe three or four days' training on the back of coming back from the World Cup."
The injury is especially bad timing for Bennette given he was already considered to be behind in his training after going to the World Cup.
It is something Mowbray mentioned ahead of the game against West Brom, and it remains to be seen how long it will now take Bennette to get up to speed again.
"I didn't play him in that game (WBA), and I didn't play Bailey Wright either, because looking at all their data from when they were over there [in Qatar] and they weren't training every day, they were a bit down on what we would normally do.
"Sometimes players who don't play as many minutes can fall through the mesh because it is generally 11 or 12 that you are trying to get ready, and the subs don't generally do as much.
“There's an understanding that the players who went away to the World Cup and didn't play every minute of every game are probably going to be slightly undercooked, and sometimes it takes a little bit of time."
Read More Sunderland Coverage
- 'Sunderland fans expect their team to attack, so we will attack' - Tony Mowbray
- Everton to consider selling on-loan striker in January - report
- Ross Stewart 'out of reach' for Rangers
- 'Luke O'Nien overworks the coaches to see what he can do better - he's an amazing guy...'
- 'Sunderland are undoubtedly the biggest club in the Championship...'