Chris Coleman had no choice but to withdraw Paddy McNair from today’s starting XI, admitting that if the midfielder had lined up against Reading he could have caused lasting damage.
The Northern Ireland midfielder was initially set to face the Royals but pulled out 10 minutes before kick-off after feeling a problem with his groin that will be assessed on Sunday.
Bryan Oviedo soon joined McNair in the treatment room with the Costa Rican defender picking up a knee injury as Sunderland’s injury woes continued.
And post-match, Coleman was unable to hide his frustration after losing yet another player to injury.
“Injuries are coming thick and fast and they’re coming in the wrong direction,” said the Sunderland manager.
“We had a game plan and we worked on it but then we lost Paddy in the warm up, so we had to re-jig the shape of the midfield and the personnel.”
He continued: “It’s Paddy’s groin where he’s feeling the problem that he felt in the warm up.
“As soon as the whistle goes it’s 100mph and he’s going to be at full pace, so there was definitely going to be a long-term injury there – it could have been two to three months – and we can’t afford any more so we couldn’t take the chance.
“We don’t know the extent of what Bryan’s done to his knee yet and that’ll be on the back of an investigation from the medical team, and it won’t be until we see that tomorrow that we know a little bit more.”
