AJI ALESE is happy to continue playing as a roaming left-back if it enables Sunderland to break down obdurate opposition defences like the one they encountered against Reading at the weekend.

For the first half of Saturday’s game with the Royals, Alese lined up as an orthodox left-back as part of the Black Cats’ flat back four.

But with Reading playing with a five-man defence and regularly pulling all of their outfield players behind the ball, Tony Mowbray instructed the 22-year-old to perform a different role after the break.

Not only was Alese pushing forward down the left-hand side, there were times when he broke infield and found himself as Sunderland’s most advanced attacker threatening the 18-yard box.

Joao Cancelo pioneered the ‘free full-back’ role during his time at Manchester City, and it is becoming increasingly common for one of a team’s full-backs to slot in as an auxiliary midfielder or forward, something Alese feels comfortable with despite having no real experience of playing up front.

“Even though I’m a defender, I do like to get forward and help out in attack,” he said. “I do have an attacking sense, and in games like this, when we felt like we needed an extra body up the pitch, I’m willing to do the running and help the team on the offensive side.

“At half-time, the manager said to me, ‘With the way they’re sitting in, there’s no point you playing behind the ball as well’. He wanted me to play higher up the pitch. In the first few minutes of the second half, we tried it and got some success, so we continued it throughout the second half.

“I haven’t really played quite like that before, but we just felt that with the way they were playing, we needed me to get on the last line, whether it be out wide or centrally, to try to pose a threat. When Clarkey (Jack Clarke) was out wide, I was just thinking to myself, ‘Let’s get into a central position’. There were a few occasions where I could have got in, so I just carried on trying to play a bit higher.”

Alese has also revealed another string to his bow in the last week, and has now earned himself a position as Sunderland’s long-throw specialist.

“We were 3-2 down on Wednesday (against Fulham), so I just did it,” he explained. “Then in training (on Friday), I just said, ‘Do you want me to do a long throw again?’ It was a joke really, but the manager said, ‘Yeah – until Wednesday, I never knew you had that’. We don’t have the tallest team so I don’t usually bring it out, but if we need it, I can do it.”