Sunderland is currently lacking optimism, and Patrick Roberts’ comeback is not likely to help them anytime soon.
While Roberts is experiencing a challenging season with no goals and just one assist to his name so far, he continues to be one of Sunderland’s significant offensive assets. Despite the lack of statistical contributions, his ball-carrying abilities, particularly on the right-hand side, have been sorely missed.
He is out right now due to a hamstring issue, and it doesn’t seem like he will be back anytime soon.
“Yeah, Pat is stepping up his rehab but he’s not out on the grass as of yet,” Dodds stated.
“So there’s still a few more weeks there, he hasn’t really come into my though processes yet but of course, he’ll be a huge boost in terms of what we’re trying to do.”
Bradley Dack and Aji Alese are two players who appear to be closer to making a comeback.
Alese has been struggling for games in general for the past year due to a variety of different problems, while Dack has been out since Boxing Day with a hamstring issue.
Both have returned to training, but Dodds says the team is now approaching both with caution.
“With Bradley and Aji, the next step is to integrate them into full training,” Dodds stated.
“At the present, they come and go from the group based on our plans; we just need to exercise caution when it comes to complete contact and similar things. Thus, at this point, I would say they are semi-integrated.