Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris has issued a message to the fringe players at the Stadium of Light, assuring them that he will need their involvement in the project.
The Black Cats brought in a number of players over the course of the summer, thus increasing the overall size of his squad.
The inflated size of the squad means that not all players will get the chance to be in the starting line-up.
The manager though insisted that it will not be possible to complete the prolonged season with just eleven or 12 players and the others will also get their chance.
“We know that we cannot perform well with only eleven or 12 players, we will need 20, 18 players very involved and ready to play. So it is like a group”, Le Bris told the BBC.
“At the moment some of them are playing more than the others but during the whole season, we need many players involved in the project.”
Sunderland skipper Dan Neil, who missed his team’s 3-1 win over Portsmouth due to suspension will be back in contention for the match against Plymouth this weekend.
On the problem of whether or not to include him and thus disturbing the winning combination, Le Bris added: “As I said before, it is a good problem for us because if we have maybe six players who are ready to play in this midfield, six strong players it is a good problem for me.
“The players need to understand that we can’t play only with three if we have five or six able to perform at the highest level.
“It is really good news for us. Some of them will start, and others will come in as changes may be after 60 or 70 minutes.
“If the performance is stable it is good news for the team”.
The Black Cats find themselves at the top of the pile having managed all 12 points in the four league matches they have played so far.
