Tony Mowbray admits he cannot coach a 'natural talent' like Patrick Roberts - aside from helping him get the best out of his innate ability. Former Manchester City forward Roberts has been one of the stars of Sunderland's season as the club has challenged for a play-off spot, and his brilliant injury-time equaliser against Watford last weekend was just the latest example of the flair he brings to the side.
Roberts is one of the players assigned to Mowbray to go through his in-game clips, but the Black Cats' head coach says there is little he can teach the 26-year-old when it comes to technique with the ball. However Mowbray says he does work with Roberts on other areas, such as his positioning, to improve his all-round game.
"It seems very natural to me, his talent," said Mowbray. "There's nothing I can coach into him when it comes to technique.
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"On our individual development plan, Patrick is on my roster so I have to show him his clips and go through them with him but I don't do it every week because I'm not teaching him - I can't tell him 'Pat, nick it on to your right foot, stick it through his legs, go round him,' he just does it, doesn't he? I'm not teaching him how to play football.
"But I can teach him how to get in at the back stick when [Jack] Clarke is attacking the full-back down the other side and hope that the ball flashes across the six-yard box and he has a tap-in, rather than him still be stood out on the other wing and there's nobody in there when the ball comes across. I can keep shouting at him, keep reminding him, keep driving him, to get in there.
"That's just one example of what we do with the team, keep driving them to get into the right positions to finish off all the good work that the team does."
Roberts has already worked with the man Mowbray regards as the best coach in the world, Man City boss Pep Guardiola. And despite a 40-year career in the game, Mowbray says he is still learning from watching what Guardiola does with his team.
He said: "The best example for me is Manchester City, where they attack down one side, they switch it across to the other side, and then they flood the box and the ball comes in and they score. I know he's since moved on to Chelsea, but Raheem Sterling left Liverpool where he scored six or seven goals a season, and then he started scoring 20 or 25 at Man City.
"It's watching, learning, all of us - me at 59 years old, watching a team coached by the world's greatest coach [Guardiola], when to get in the box, how to get in the box, when to keep it, when to put the ball forward, how to do it. We're all learning, and when you have a group of people who all want to learn with you, it's quite rewarding."
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