With great Power comes great responsibility
WEARSIDERS BOSS FACING A MIDFIELD SELECTION HEADACHE
JACK Ross admits he has a dilemma over whether to change a winning team this weekend at Coventry City as Max Power rejoins Sunderland’s League One campaign.
Power has scored twice in five league outings since his summer arrival from Wigan Athletic but he has sat out the Black Cats’ last three league games after being sent off in the 1-1 draw against Oxford United on Wearside on September 1.
While he was out, Sunderland drew at home to Fleetwood Town and lost at Burton Albion - but last weekend they ended a threegame winless streak in the league with an emphatic 4-1 win over Rochdale at the Stadium of Light.
Ross is likely to use the same 3-5-2 system at the Ricoh Arena and must decide whether to stick with the central midfield trio of Lee Cattermole, Dylan McGeouch and George Honeyman or bring Power straight back into the side.
His choice will be influenced by the fact Power has been out for almost a month, McGeouch has only recently returned from injury and the Black Cats face three games in a week with Saturday’s match followed by a midweek home game against league leaders Peterborough and then a trip to Bradford City next weekend.
Ross said: “Max has been out now for the best part of a month because of his suspension but that is different to being out for a month through injury because then he would not have been training every day.
“He has trained well and he gives us extra options. “This is probably the strongest position we have been in all season.
“It is nice to have those choices because we have not really had them that often this season.
“I know people think that might make your job easy as a manager but making those decisions does not faze me and it is nicer to have those decisions than not to.
“We have three games coming up - a tough away game on Saturday, then Peterborough who are top of the league on Tuesday and then Bradford away the following weekend - so having more options available is definitely a positive.
“There are a lot of things to consider.
“We won well last week and played well in parts of the game.
“You have to think about what gametime people have had under their belts but also take into consideration what lies ahead as well.
“It is not a question of one game taking precedence over another, just the fact you have to put out teams in each of those matches.”
Academy graduate Denver Hume started ahead of Bryan Oviedo in the win over Rochdale and his impressive performance in that game could see him retain his place this weekend.
With Power available again, Sunderland will be without only three players at Coventry.
Striker Charlie Wyke has been ruled out until the New Year with knee ligament damage, while Duncan Watmore has only just returned to full training after almost a year out with a cruciate ligament injury.
The third absentee is defender Donald Love, who is expected to be out for two more weeks with an ankle problem.
Ross said: “Donald has a slight issue with his ankle, Duncan is getting ever closer and we know Charlie will be out for a while.”