Sunderland coach Sam Allardyce has said that full-back Wes Brown must use all his years of experience and skill if he is to feature in their clash with Merseyside team Everton.
Allardyce hasn’t got much choice for defenders as both John O’Shea and Younes Kaboul have sustained injuries from the Black Cats’ victory of rivals Newcastle.
Players such as O’Shea, Kaboul, Ola Toivonen and Fabio Borini are all doubts for their fixture with the Toffees tomorrow. A medical staff decision on the group’s fitness has suggested that some of them may feature tomorrow.
If Allardyce is forced to leave out the likes of Kaboul and O’Shea, then he may have to revert to Brown and Sebastian Coates to feature in his back four, this couple were in the Sunderland team that beat the Blues last season.
The former Manchester United full-back hasn’t played a competitive match since that fixture against Everton.
Allardyce, who used to manage the likes of West Ham and Bolton, said that ‘Wes is okay. I spoke to him and he said he’s ready to go in, if he’s needed.’
He continued to say ‘if we need him, what Wes has to do is draw on the enormous experience he has in his career to go out against Everton and do what he normally does.’
‘If he plays well enough, gets us a clean sheet and helps us win the game, then I can’t see me changing it the week after, that’s for sure! If he uses his experience, we should be pretty solid as a team when we’re not in possession.’
Allardyce could also play ex-Man City flop Jack Rodwell, who has said to the media that he is willing to play in any position if it means that he gets regular first team football.
Big Sam could also turn to centre-half Tom Beading, but he is on a return from a broken ankle.
The Sunderland coach wants Rodwell to start playing and performing, however. So it’s possible that the England international could feature in the back-line tomorrow.
Allardyce said ‘It’s such a long time since he played centre-back, that we’d have to be really struggling in terms of centre-halves available to put him there.’
‘If we’re going to play him centre-half, we need to put him there in a lot of the training sessions and see whether he feels comfortable there and then talk to him to see if he’s okay taking that challenge on in a Premier League game.’
‘Can I succeed in getting Jack in the team? Can I get him to make a big contribution?’
He finally mentioned that ‘he should be an absolute regular, but unfortunately for him and the football club, he hasn’t been able to achieve that just yet.’
