Tony Mowbray's message to Leeds United loanee Joe Gelhardt as Sunderland boss looks for goalscoring solutions

The 20-year-old forward, who is on loan from Leeds, has made two appearances for the Black Cats and tried to link up play when his side have in possession.

Yet with Sunderland’s top scorer Ross Stewart set to be sidelined for the rest of the season, Mowbray is short of options when looking for players who can lead the line.

The Black Cats boss therefore needs attacking players such as Patrick Roberts, Jack Clarke, Amad and Alex Pritchard to contribute with more goals, as well as Gelhardt.

When asked about the Leeds loanee dropping deep and how he can use Gelhardt’s assets, Mowbray mentioned Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, who Sunderland came up against in the FA Cup.

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“I think you have to adapt your game really,” Mowbray told the Echo.

“As when we’ve played with no strikers you have to make sure that when the ball is coming in the box that people are in the box, whether it be the opposite wideman getting in, whether it’s No 10s. With Joe I have no issues with him coming deep, linking and joining.

“You saw Mitrovic was like a masterclass of doing it twice against us in recent weeks, how deep he comes to join in with their build-up and yet always arrives in the box at the right time.

“He either jogs in there because the build-up is slow down the wing and he arrives as the cross comes in, or he’s bursting a lung to get in there because they are fast down the byline and are looking for a cutback.

“I think Joe has got to be like that really, part of the build-up, get involved in the game, can’t just always think you are going to sit on the shoulder and run in behind.

“He’s very technical and he won’t lose the ball for us, even in tight areas he’s a good footballer, but he has to be in the box when the ball arrives, as does Roberts, as does Clarke, Amad or Pritchard. They have to get in the box to score goals for us as well.”