Every word from Sunderland head coach Michael Beale ahead of the trip to Huddersfield Town on Wednesday night.
Any knocks or injuries from the weekend?
No. Some good news, Corry Evans is back on the grass but he's going to do a couple of games with Under-21s group just to phase him back in. Callum Styles will re-join the group today, that's a good thing. The game tomorrow will be too early for him. He may be in contention for the weekend we'll just have to see how he goes after the appendicitis.
Disappointing for Elliot Embleton?
Yeah and he actually rolled his ankle. So he's going to miss a couple of days. The plan was for him to play this weekend with the second team, but that might get pushed back. It's just one of those things. The game is harsh sometimes, you're just getting ready to come back and it gets called off, the next session you roll your ankle. These things happen.
First midweek game and these come round quickly, when Mike Dodds was in interim charge he spoke about the planning already being done for games weeks in advance, are you the same?
A little bit, but then performances at the weekend can sway you. You can have someone come off the bench and do particularly well or something can happen in the game and the confidence of the group changes that. The Championship is relentless so you always have to play the game that's in front of you but you always have to have an eye on what might hurt the next team. What I will say is, it's a really interesting team that we're playing against in Huddersfield.
They've scored seven goals in their last two games, lost one in five and that being a game where they've scored three goals away at Southampton and they've been leading going into the last ten minutes. They were leading two nil so something has happened there. They're waiting for a new coach to come in and they're fighting for their lives at one end of the table while we've got aspirations on a completely different thing. Every game at the moment, as soon as we get out of this game, it's very similar to what we're going to face this weekend against Birmingham.
It must have been weird coming off the pitch on Saturday, seeing the Huddersfield result knowing you're the next team to play them?
They've had the change in house but they're at the stage of the season, like ourselves, where three points is so important, it's a home game for them. They've lost one in five, away at Southampton. The form guide and the league table are two different things completely. It'll be a really tough game. I've watched them and they're quite direct. They're not a team that wants too much possession but they've played the most forward passes in the last five or six games in the league and they're fifth for shots. It tells you what's coming.
We're going to need to be defensively strong and up for the midfield battle for sure, all over the pitch we're not going to be able to have the lapses in concentration that we had at the start of the second-half at Middlesbrough or the first-half at the weekend. We need to be at it for 90 minutes if we want the three points. As I said, for both teams the three points is huge in this game.
You must be pleased with the reaction against Plymouth and the manner in which you changed it, it'll give you heart going into these two games?
Yeah the praise is with the players. You give them information but they've got to go out and execute it, so to be 1-0 down at home against a team that you think will sit in and play in on the counter, probably you'd say for Sunderland, that's been our biggest nightmare. So to end the second-half 3-0, I was delighted with. I don't think we gave up a shot on our goal which is difficult in the Championship with the way the games are played and how direct some teams can be at times.
Delighted with the players and it was three excellent goals. We played with much more quality, much more speed. We had a discussion about that. Sometimes the opponents play their big part in the game as well but each game you have to solve different problems. Where we were at half-time, to where we were at full-time at the weekend, it was a fantastic turnaround so credit to the boys for doing that.
Jobe, sometimes it may be in our imagination but he looked like a new player and had a spring in his step. Is that in our imagination because he'd had a bit of a rest?
Yeah there's been a need for him to play, when I first came in, it was a crazy ten days where we probably played trained three times, even then in adverse weather and the same players had to play the games at that stage. We came out of that four games in ten days in a good place because we were in the play-off places because that was what we had to do. This week we feel we've had a slightly strong squad and we could give him a break. The plan was, could he come on with 30 minutes and really impact the game with lots of energy. Not just him, him and Chris Rigg really came on and pinned their two midfielders back which freed up Dan Neil, who had a particularly eye catching second-half didn't he?
When you think of the age of that midfield and you bring on and 18-year-old and a 16-year-old at the time, you don't think of that you think of the talent of the players that are coming on. I was delighted with both. I think the goal changes everyone's perception as well, because if you take the goal away Jobe has just come on and had a positive impact in the game. The fact he came on and scored, it was a nice personal moment for him as well. He's had some near misses of late and even if you go back to West Brom which was disallowed goal, I think it can play on your mind so it's a nice personal moment for him.
Do you feel fans are warming to you?
I think in the league our form has been really good. If you look at the form guides, we're where we need to be in the table, or close to where we need to be. We've had some one or two games in the league where we've been disappointed. I'm not going to come away from the disappointment in one or two games, mainly Ipswich and Hull where we should've got more from the games I feel. You could probably throw Rotherham into that. Every game that you don't come away with three points, there's a reason why and you're frustrated.
I thought the fans were excited by the team in the second-half and it's how we want our home stadium to be. We know it'll be a full away following tomorrow. It's two big away games. It's three out of the next four away from home. Our away form, we've won once since September which was Hull, we've had a couple of draws since then which shows we're getting more positive away from home. It's the three points which are important, we don't want to get twisted up with draws. Three points are going to be crucial and we need to try and get some on the road and we know they'll be right behind us.
Have you seen any of the new Netflix series?
Not but I saw the first series and you guys all look a lot older than what you did then so if that’s what following Sunderland does to you or if it’s just natural I don’t know! Look, it took our club to the whole world. It was a well-known club anyway but the series took it to the whole world, not just the people inside the club but the fans as well and the passion of the club, the ups and downs and trials and tribulations of the club. I’ve not watched the first one of the new series yet but I’m looking forward to it. What it does is it showcases our club and the importance of our club to the local community which is fantastic.
What did you think watching that first series?
I saw really good people going through a tough time in terms of coaches. You see the strain it has on them, you see managers coming in at the start of their tenure and you see the strain it had on them and the players and you could see that the group was under a lot of pressure, for sure. This series ends much nicer at Wembley with the team going up. It shows what it means to the fans, they’re here permanently. It’s their club and trying to get that passion over to the players – if you look back at the squad that came out of the Premier League, the talent that it had, I wasn’t around at the time but it made for fascinating viewing with, ultimately, the team getting relegated again which was really difficult for everyone and the scenes from the local pubs and things like that you could see how much it means to the fans.
I think what I saw from the staff is you saw the stress it puts on. It’s difficult sometimes when you’re inside that bubble, at the moment with our team we’re in a good way. So I look at the group of players and they’re bouncing into work because they’re in a positive place – you really have to protect that when you’re in football. Momentum is such a big thing, certainly when you’re in the Championship where it’s so even. Going back to the team now, yes we’ve just come off the back of two positive home results but tomorrow night is going to be a huge game because there’s so much at stake for both sides. Huddersfield are probably going through a little bit of what that Sunderland team were going through that season, they’re down the bottom scrapping for every point. So it’s important that our players reset mentally because this is going to be a tough challenge and a complete different problem to solve than Plymouth at home.
Where does Chris Rigg rank?
I think his mentality is a big strength. Probably his biggest strength is how long he can keep his mentality like that’s not to down-talk his technique or his tactical awareness but he’s a boy from this part of the world and I think it means a lot to him and his mentality at the moment to be 16 and be fearless and going and playing against midfielders that are maybe sometimes double his age is fantastic. I actually put him and Jobe on at the weekend because I wanted us to win more duels in midfield – I felt it was a crucial moment of the game at 2-1. So when you think you’re putting a 16-year-old on in a Championship game to win duels you must have a faith and a trust in his mentality and that’s a huge asset.
How do you coach consistency?
It’s about standards and habits. I think your defensive organisation gives you a lot in a football match – you might know where you’re going to regain the ball, you have a trust in it. But you know you’re going to have difficult moments in games, it’s not always going to be free flowing, the opponents tactics sometimes steal space from you. Then it’s important that some players in the team understand their role and their role might be making sure we serve the match winners and support the match winners. It’s important we get that balance right between who’s willing to take the risk or who should be taking the risk.
If you have players like Paddy Roberts and Jack Clarke and Naz and Jobe, Abdoullah Ba – are they the ones who take the risk? The other boys have got to serve them and give balance. It’s not ideal joining a club at the back end of December with four games in 10 days and not having much chance on the training pitch, but these are the things over time you try to give the team real strong foundations. So, when you’re going away to Huddersfield and you maybe have to defend some more direct play and set plays you can withstand that. When you’re playing at home against a team who sit in you have a way of playing. That all takes a little bit of time.
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I’m really fortunate that we have some excellent players here and there was a lot of good groundwork done before I arrived, so I arrived in a good place. It’s now about adding some little golden nuggets to that to certain individuals that can kick them on. For example, I thought Trai Hume, at the weekend, had a real complete full-back performance because not only did he defend well, he pressed well and harried well but his crossing at the moment – he deserves more and that’s something we’re working on with Jack and Paddy and Abdoullah Ba; when our full-backs are crossing the ball can they maybe attack the far post?
A lot of their goals come from dribbling but I think Trai should have maybe five or six more assists with our wide players arriving in the box. So you’re nudging these little things in. when they harvest that’s the frustration of being a football coach but we’re doing okay. All I’ll say with the Championship is you can be doing great and then the next game can change how you feel. We need to protect that because we’ve had some tough days but it’s fair to say after the weekend our tails are up.
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