Sunderland: Tony Mowbray on Niall Huggins and Millwall

Huggins is anticipated to return to the Sunderland starting lineup against Millwall this afternoon. Tony Mowbray gave an explanation for his choice to bench the full-back during the team’s midweek loss to Huddersfield Town.

After overcoming his injury nightmare, Huggins has established himself as a regular in Mowbray’s lineup this season. However, he was strangely left out of the lineup for the Terriers’ visit, with Jenson Seelt replacing him at right-back.

After the heartbreaking loss, Mowbray’s decision drew criticism from his supporters. He acknowledged the criticism and tried to clarify his reasoning.

“Everyone may wonder what you do when you lose a game. I have to try to see the wider picture in my role,” he remarked.

“Huddersfield, our opponent, has scored the second-most goals from set plays in the league so far this year. Since Jenson, a 6′ 4” boy, demonstrated his abilities during the Birmingham game, why wouldn’t you try to bring him in?

“And then you have Niall, who has had huge injury issues during my time at the club. That would have been his second game of the week then rolling straight into a third, it felt like the right game to rotate and to get some more physicality into our backline at the same time.

“And yet I understand it [the criticism], especially as we’ve gone and conceded from a set play.”

“What saddened me was that I was sick and couldn’t spend the day chatting with the players who were being rotated off the team and sharing my opinions.

Now that I’ve had a chance, I’d like to talk to Niall and let him know how

wonderful I think he’s been to work with. I speak of the intensity we require,

and he embodies it in everything he does.

“He’s a really important figure in our team and there’s every reason to think that he’ll be back in this weekend.”