Patrick Roberts is one Sunderland player who Regis Le Bris could sideline for Saturday’s game against Stoke City.
Roberts has been in poor form lately, and his penalty miss against Sheffield United on Friday night cost the Black Cats at least one point.
Le Bris obviously rates him, as he has started 15 of Sunderland’s 18 league games this season, but it might be time to give someone else a chance to impress.
One Sunderland expert has weighed in on the debate and predicted whether Roberts will keep his place in the lineup.
Sunderland expert on Patrick Roberts’ place in starting lineup
Sunderland expert James Copley gave his verdict on Patrick Roberts ahead of Stoke City’s visit to the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
“I’m a massive fan of Patrick Roberts, I think he has suffered from a lack of competition,” Copley explained on X.
“We seem to have these conversations about Patrick Roberts yearly and, for me, although Abdoullah Ba did some decent stuff last season in terms of his output, I always prefer Patrick Roberts. I don’t think Ba is a better player than Patrick Roberts – quite clearly Le Bris agrees.
“Obviously you’ve got [Eliezer] Mayenda on the right wing, who’s looked decent. Could Le Bris bring him in on earlier in games? Could he start Mayenda and then look to bring Roberts on? I don’t know. Sunderland have that option.
“I guess, going into Stoke it’s a team selection of interest. Will he start Roberts or Mayenda? It’s probably 50/50. I suspect he’ll probably go with Roberts again. I think he’ll stick with him.”
Sunderland fans want Patrick Roberts dropped
Perhaps Sunderland fans will have changed their minds a few days later, but the consensus after the Sheffield United defeat was that Roberts should be dropped.
One fan said: “Patrick Roberts Sunderland career should be over after today.” Another added: “Patrick Roberts shouldn’t kick another ball for Sunderland.”
“Patrick Roberts needs replacing. He’s good but the end product is basically non-existent,” a Black Cats supporter wrote.
Of course, Le Bris should not be listening to the fans when making key decisions but they might have a valid point when it comes to Roberts.
The 27-year-old has only scored once all season (a penalty) and provided three assists from the right wing.
Mayenda has registered the same number of goal contributions from 621 minutes compared to Roberts’ 1288.