Patrick Roberts has hailed Amad's 'brilliant' influence as Sunderland have exceeded expectations on their return to the Championship. On-loan Manchester United forward Amad has been one of the stars of the campaign as the Black Cats have made the step up following promotion from League One last term.
The Ivory Coast international has largely operated in the number ten role with Roberts playing wide on the right, and Jack Clarke wide on the left. And the link-up between Amad and Roberts in particular has been telepathic at times.
"He's a great player and has come in on loan," said former Manchester City man Roberts, who led a nomadic existence with multiple loan spells before joining Sunderland in January 2022. "I know what it's like going on loan, sometimes you're not playing and it's tough and sometimes you do really well.
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"I've had those loan spells and I'm at a place now where I'm playing, and he's learning going out on loan and has been brilliant since he's been here. He's just come in, cracked on with his business, and shown his quality.
"That's what you need at a club like this, you need someone to come in and help as much as possible and having a player of that calibre is great. He's been a great asset this season.
"When you are playing with better players you play better yourself and he's just one of those players when you give him the ball, he can hold it and play you back in again, or you know what he's going to do and vice-versa. There are a few players in the team like that and it's nice to bring them along like that even when they are on loan for a season.
"You need that squad and depth in the squad and he's come in and been brilliant."
Sunderland fans had the opportunity to see Roberts and Amad in action in a non-match situation this morning as more than 3,000 supporters turned out to watch the club's open training session in the sunshine at the Stadium of Light. The session came just three days after Sunderland earned a deserved point in a goalless draw against runaway Championship leaders Burnley at Turf Moor, which saw the Wearsiders produce arguabbly their most disciplined defensive display of the season.
And they were a whisker away from inflicting a first home defeat of the season on the Clarets, with Amad denied by the crossbar 20 minutes from time. Roberts said: "Yeah we're in a good place at the minute.
"Obviously we've had a few tough games but we've gone through that but I think to go to Turf Moor and get a draw and to go to Carrow Road and win against Norwich City... We could have nicked results elsewhere but those are the teams you have to compete against and I think we've done alright.
"We have a few games left towards the end of the season and see how many points we can get. I think performance-wise, defensively wise, it was a great game [at Burnley].
"We kind of knew how to set up against them and you never know what you're going to get. Sometimes you can go high press and they get out all the time, but I thought everyone to a man was brilliant.
"It's not one of the games we've really enjoyed, but when you look back you can see it was kind of worth it, even to take a draw. We are the first team they've not scored against there this season so it was a great credit to the back four and Patto [Anthony Patterson] in goal.
"Us players at the top of the pitch, you don't really get the credit you deserve sometimes but when you work that hard it does take a toll on the body. To get that reward at the end is great and we could have even nicked [a goal] at the end."
Sunderland are sitting comfortably in midtable with seven games remaining and, while they are seven points outside the top six, they are still on the fringes of the play-off picture. That is no mean achievement given that this is the Black Cats first season at this level after four years in League One, and they have also been severely hampered by injuries, including to top scorer Ross Stewart who has been available for little more than a quarter of the campaign.
Stewart suffered an Achilles injury in January which cut short his season, but he was at today's open training session - although he was not able to take part - and he signed autographs and posed for photos with young fans. Roberts says Stewart has been a big miss, adding: "I think just having that presence at the top of the pitch, like if you need to release it like in the Middlesbrough game for us, I kind of knew where he would be.
"These types of games when you have a striker and have got to know a striker and he's not there, it's not great and you have to play differently. Teams can come and do a job and know what you're going to do and you have to work harder.
"I think the last few games we've had do that more, work hard off the ball and just use our character and it's been a different dynamic. He's been a big miss this season, Ross, and hopefully he'll be back in pre-season and can go again."
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