Sunderland boss explains Nazariy Rusyn and Adil Aouchiche plans in Sheffield Wednesday selection hint

Tony Mowbray has been impressed with Nazariy Rusyn and Adil Aouchiche but believes they still need more training time before coming into the Sunderland starting XI.

Aouchiche has impressed in three substitute appearances since his deadline-day arrival, while Rusyn made his debut in the closing stages of the 1-0 defeat to Cardiff City.

Both got significant game time under their belt and impressed hugely in a 3-1 win over Derby County earlier this week.

Mowbray was asked if he was tempted to hand Rusyn a start at Hillsborough on Friday night as a result, and said that while increased game time over the next week is absolutely on the cards, hinted it is more likely to be from the bench.

"We're tempted to use him more, yes," Mowbray said.

"The boy needed to train, he hadn't had any football for a month and I had discussions about him game time and he wasn't quite ready. He wanted to play for the U21s [to get up to speed], he played off the left and showed a really good eye for diving in and making those diagonal runs.

"He did very, very well and looked sharp. He's still integrating into our group and he has to filter in and earn the respect of the team through the attributes he brings. Bit by bit, he'll get there and I'm pretty hopeful that it won't be too long a period of time before he's forced his way into the team with his talent and his work ethic, and hopefully with goals and assists."

Aouchiche and Rusyn will both be strong contenders for starts after the upcoming international break, but Mowbray's comments suggest that changes at Sheffield Wednesday will be very limited.

Patrick Roberts is pushing for a start after recently being used as a substitute.

"Adil is a very talented boy, he has played a lot of Ligue 1 football so it's not as if he's a young boy who has never played at a senior level," Mowbray said.

"He is very talented, it's just than in my mind at this moment he's still finding the discipline of the position we want to play him in. He tends to roam around and he wants the ball, he's very tidy and technical but at the moment we're asking the team to play with a bit more discipline positionally. Once Adil grasps that, I will have no fears of putting him in because he is good enough to play in our team, for sure.

"With Adil and Nazariy, I think [impact sub is a better role] because they have to bed into the structure of the team. They team has to repeat the the consistency of how we want to play so that we can dominate the game, and when we're not find that dominance, how we can break away and the spaces that players have to fill. It can be frustrating if a new player who hasn't quite bedded in... and at the moment we're not doing a lot of 11v11 training because we are playing so many games. Of course, we can use video and get the message across that way.

"A few more weeks, and I'll be happy that they can play in these positions and I can rotate the team around with the strengths of certain players. A few weeks down the line, maybe after the next international break, I think we'll have a lot more choices as injuries clear and as some of these players begin to step up."