Michael Beale has provided an injury update on Patrick Roberts after Sunderland’s defeat to Birmingham City.
Sunderland endured back-to-back defeats as they fell at the hands of former manager Tony Mowbray yesterday.
The Black Cats were beaten by Huddersfield Town last time out, before they made it only one win in 12 games on the road as the Blues came from behind to claim all three points at St Andrews.
It was once again Jack Clarke who produced a little bit of quality to earn Sunderland the lead, but they were unable to hold on and another disappointing second half display sent them home with nothing.
While it was overall another underwhelming afternoon, Romaine Mundle did put on a promising first start for the Black Cats.
The winger was brought into replace the injured Patrick Roberts, while Abdoullah Ba dropped to the bench.
While Mundle is showing early signs of being a very good signing for the club, Roberts’ injury remains a concern.
After the game, Beale provided a possible timeframe on his absence after he was forced off in the defeat to Huddersfield midweek.
Speaking to Sunderland Echo, the 43-year-old said: “Yeah, it’ll be four or five weeks for Patrick.
“We won’t see Paddy or Elliot for a while. The scan for Embo showed something which we didn’t expect to see so he’s going to be out for probably a similar time. It’s disappointing for both of them.”
Can Romaine Mundle replace Roberts?
Despite failing to score all season, Patrick Roberts has undeniably been out one of our most creative outlets.
The winger has creative some fantastic chances so far this term, while his recent absence did become very clear when we struggled to put the ball in the back of the net.
Romaine Mundle does look to be a very capable replacement though, coming close to getting on the scoresheet yesterday.
The 20-year-old does look very raw and a little chaotic, which is very exciting, however we need Michael Beale and our coaches to manage him and develop him properly.
That is supposed to be our forte of course, but something tells me Beale will manage to drill any of that attacking threat out of him over the next few months.
That is if the head coach is still here, which many will hope isn’t the case, especially after a controversial incident yesterday that saw him snubbing a handshake from Trai Hume.
The club is a complete mess at the minute and it is quite clear nothing is going to improve under Beale anytime soon.