Dick Advocaat has a difficult decision on his hands on whether to play important players, regardless of their match fitness.
Jordi Gomez, Fabio Borini and Ola Toivonen were all handed their first starts of the season, despite not completing a full pre-season. Advocaat has come under scrutiny from pundits by them believing the trio should have been drip fed into the starting 11, not just rushed straight in. All three had to be substituted as it was clear to see their energy levels were running extremely low.
Advocaat has supported his decision by believing it will pay off in the long run. While also understanding that it is a gamble, he see’s no alternative method in order to gain their match fitness.
“How can I get them match fit if I don’t let them play?
“At a certain moment, they will pay it back to us, I have no doubts about that. I have not seen many games from us where we’ve played the way we did against Spurs – attacking wise, the passing and the spirit in the team.
“That’s more like how I like to play. We just needed the goals at the right time and right moment. If the fans are proud of you when you lose a game, it will only get better. The points will come, that’s football.”
In addition to Gomez, Borini and Toivonen, DeAndre Yedlin is also available for the first time in a Sunderland shirt, and the potential of a returning Adam Johnson after he made his comeback to training on Monday will give Advocaat even more decisions to make.
