Tony Mowbray explains why he will use exciting attacking duo sparingly for now

Tony Mowbray says he wants to use his wildcard attacking players more, but he knows it’s a gamble until they learn how Sunderland play without the ball.

Mowbray threw youngsters Jewison Bennette and Isaac Lihadji on from the bench in the 1-0 win over Reading, and both showed flashes of their quality on the ball.

However, both are also struggling with the language, and the fear is they don’t yet fully understand the defensive duties that come with the position within the Sunderland team.

Mowbray believes that understanding will come, but for now he is still happy to gamble on them when needed.

Speaking to safc.com after the Reading win, Mowbray said: "The attacking threat that we carry off the bench, all these young kids, the balance is do you start them and risk that they're not used to the intensity and they haven't been here long enough to know the way we play and their responsibilities out of possession?

“Then like today you have a game where you need to gamble, and we did that and it paid off. Great for those young lads who came onto the pitch and helped us get three points."

The Sunderland attacking midfield three of Patrick Roberts, Amad Diallo and Jack Clarke look very settled right now, although two were replaced in the second half against Reading.

Mowbray says those waiting in reserve are frustrated not to be playing, but they may get their chance in the coming days.

"I think they just brought some freshness to the team really,” Mowbray said of his reserve attacking players.

“The lads who don't play regularly, I can feel their frustration and disappointment if they're not selected or brought on. We're only trying to win games and everybody has to keep working hard.

“I do say to them, times like where we are now with a lot of fixtures in a very short period of time, they're all going to get used and need to be ready.

“So they need to train hard and team selection on Tuesday is going to be interesting. There's a lot of ice on a lot of sore muscles in that dressing room so we'll see what Tuesday brings."

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