Michael Beale has something to say on Sunderland’s vital 3-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle.
After a horribly bad first half, Sunderland’s players rallied to defeat Plymouth Argyle and make it back into the Championship top six. Michael Beale reminded his players that they had now set the bar for future performance.
Beale named a fairly offensive opening XI, but Ryan Hardie’s goal gave Plymouth the lead at the half as the Black Cats labored. In an attempt to make amends, Beale sent his players off early in the second half. They responded magnificently, thrashing the visitors with three goals in less than half an hour.
Three crucial points were secured by Pierre Ekwah, Jack Clarke, and Jobe Bellingham, and although Beale believes some inconsistency is natural with a young side, he wants them to make sure they achieve what they did in the second half.
At the beginning of his pregame press conference, Beale was asked if it was a traditional game of two halves. “Well, we only played in one half to be honest,” he replied. We had a strong start to the game, but we quickly faltered. We made far too many individual mistakes, and our lineup choices early in the game definitely affected our cohesiveness. Our pressing didn’t please me.
“We had honest words at half time, got out there early and I thought from the moment we kicked off, we were much much better. We scored three excellent goals and we’re mixing around the goal scorers now as well. It was three special goals.
“I think we went and pressed really well, Trai Hume jumping out his slot to press and make challenges, Naz pressing tirelessly didn’t get a personal reward but his energy for the team was fantastic,” he added.
“In that fifteen, twenty minute spell we looked a really good team. It’s incredible when you compare the level of performance in the two halves, but I guess that’s what it’s like managing a young team at times. I just said to them, it’s a really important win when you look at the table tonight.
“We’re a young team and so we always can get better.In that first half there weren’t too many in a Sunderland shirt who did themselves justice and we spoke about that. We spoke about wanting to excite our fans at home, to run, play front-foot football and for people to express themselves. I could have made five subs but I told the players that I thought it was the right team and they had to put it right. We didn’t want any regrets and I expected more. The second half was fantastic and we have to stay at that level.”
Beale praised Dan Neil for an exceptional second-half performance, saying he fully capitalised on a tactical tweak that freed up him to impact the game: “We made a tactical change and got Dan free by tying up their midfielders. For a fifteen, twenty-minute period Dan had a lot of freedom. He had a really influential second half in all aspects, he won duels, he drove us forward, he played passes.”