Michael Beale, the head coach of Sunderland, intends to change things up a bit this week with two away games at hand.
Sunderland fans should anticipate “a couple of changes” in each of the next away games, according to Michael Beale.
The Black Cats enters the match with seven out of nine points and a winning attitude after defeating Plymouth 3-1 at home on Saturday.
But the Sunderland head coach is aware that in order to keep his team fresh, he needs to rotate it a little bit, especially with two away games against Huddersfield and Birmingham scheduled for the next four days.That could see Jobe Bellingham restored to the midfield following his goalscoring appearance from the bench last week.
“There’s likely to be a couple of changes for both games,” Beale said. “First and foremost, you deal with the game in front of you and recover.
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“It’s two away games and so we’ve got to recover really well, make sure we bring our A game tomorrow night but then again just a couple of days later.
“They’re two different opponents but their need is as great as ours in their own situation, so it’s important that we pick the right team tactically tomorrow and then make the right subs.
“You need different qualities because the game changes over 90 minutes, and in the last couple I think we’ve just about got it right.”
Beale doesn’t underrate Huddersfield
On paper, Sunderland is expected to defeat Huddersfield, who are only one spot above the bottom three. But, Beale is anticipating a very tough match because Sunderland has only lost once in their past five games and has scored seven goals in their last two games.
“It will be a really tough game,” he said. “I’ve watched them. They are quite direct in terms of they are not a team that wants too much possession, but they play the most forward passes, certainly in the last five or six games, in the league.
“We are not going to be able to have the lapses in concentration we’ve had, maybe at the start of the second half at Middlesbrough and first half at the weekend. Sure we are going to need to be at it for 90 minutes.”