Sam Allardyce has explained to The Sunderland Echo why new man Dame N’Doye didn’t feature in Sunderland’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth on Saturday.
The 30-year-old attacker was included in the matchday squad for the first time since joining on loan from Turkish side Trabzonspor but he didn’t get off the bench to show his new fans what he can do, much to their despair.
With the visitors causing havoc in the centre of the pitch, Allardyce believed that his team would have been far too vulnerable with another striker on the field, as he said:
We would have had to bring him on for Jermain [Defoe] because I couldn’t risk the two up front. The midfield battle was three v three and it had to stay like that. If I had diluted us in that area, we might have given Bournemouth a bigger opportunity to win than us. I left it as it was. But he’ll [N’Doye] play sooner rather than later, I think.
The Senegalese international is supposedly one of several players lacking match fitness and he should be featuring in a closed doors friendly this week before they face Manchester City at the Stadium of Light next Wednesday, which, along with some endurance training, should help him get in shape.
The Black Cats will be hoping that once he is fully fit, N’Doye can recapture the form he had at now Championship side Hull City, where he hit the back of the net five times in 15 Premier League appearances.
