Sunderland boss sends clear selection message on Leeds United loanee ahead of Norwich City game

Gelhardt was withdrawn at half time during the defeat to Stoke City last weekend, with Mowbray admitting that the young striker's confidence was low.

Mowbray says he sympathises with the Leeds United loanee, who he expected to be pairing regularly with Ross Stewart up front. He says the 20-year-old is adapting both to the demands of regular senior football - and a relatively new role leading the line.

"When I first met him I talked about what his preferred role was," Mowbray said.

"We talked about him as a nine and a half really, which means he's happy to play 10, he's happy to play wide, he's happy to play down the middle. And yet it wasn't the intention to put such a young guy as the main man.

"The plan was to play off a centre-forward really because I feel when I watched his best clips at Leeds when he's been on the pitch playing in the Premier League, he sort of buzzes around the main guy and dives into little spaces.

"And yet at the moment he's the main focal point rather than the guy who the defenders aren't marking. In an ideal world, the main guy moves them [the defenders] out the way and Joe dives in and buries it in the bottom corner. At the moment he's the main focus of the defenders and it's different.

"In these next 11 games I said to him he has to try and stay robust and fit and strong and try and rebuild some confidence, because I do think his confidence is pretty low at the moment," Mowbray added.

"He'll be given opportunities. I don't sit here at this moment and think I'll put him on the bench and protect him a little bit and see if he can come off the bench and liven the game up. The burden on him is he has to generally start because he's the only striker we have who is close to being a nine."

Mowbray will be forced into at least one change for the game, with Aji Alese's season now over following a thigh injury.