Chris Coleman believes Middlesbrough striker Ashley Fletcher has "found it tough" to go into a struggling team at Sunderland.
Fletcher - a £6.5m summer signing by Boro - joined the relegation-threatened Black Cats on loan in January but has been involved in only two draws and no wins in his eight matches so far.
He is yet to find the net for Sunderland, who are currently bottom of the Championship table, five points adrift of safety and two points below Burton Albion.
And manager Coleman points to a couple of incidents in the draw with Bristol City and defeat to Aston Villa that may have impacted on Fletcher's influence at the Stadium of Light so far.
"He's found it tough coming into a struggling team," Coleman told the Sunderland Echo.
"He's coming into a club with a lot of uncertainty, he's had one or two moments in games where if he hits the back of the net, things could be different.
"There was a moment at Bristol where the keeper pulled off a great save, I think that affected him, (and) here against Villa he got through and had a bad touch and that affected him.
"He'll come through it, but with Josh (Maja) and Joel (Asoro), they're also young but they like playing together, especially when we play two up top.
"They've got a good connection, they're big friends, so I thought it would be better to take Fletch out and give those two a start (in Saturday's defeat to Preston North End)."
Fletcher scored two EFL Cup goals for Boro earlier in the campaign, with the 22-year-old's most prolific season so far coming in 2015-16, when he scored nine goals in helping Barnsley to play-off victory in League One.
He found the net in the final at Wembley as the Tykes beat Millwall 3-1.
