Southern According to Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman, the head coach has the last say when choosing the team.
As a devoted Sunderland supporter, I thought Kristjaan Speakman’s response was incorrect.
According to Kristjaan Speakman, Michael Beale, the new head coach of Sunderland, will make the final selections, even though former manager Tony Mowbray seemed to be under pressure to include some players and leave others out. At the beginning of this month, Mowbray was fired just over 48 hours after he revealed in an interview following the Black Cats’ 1-1 draw at Millwall that there was conflict between the club’s aim to play primarily youth players and his own preference, stemming from his 40-year football career, for balancing youth with one or two more more experienced heads.
An example of this is Alex Pritchard, who, on deadline day, came dangerously close to departing Wearside. After the window closed, he made only a few starts despite contributing in many substitute appearances before Mowbray’s departure. Nonetheless, Pritchard started against Leeds United and assisted the game’s lone goal, came off the bench to help Sunderland defeat West Brom 2-1 under Mike Dodds’ interim leadership, and started against Bristol City last weekend, creating multiple set-piece opportunities.
When questioned at The Den if he had to choose between playing seasoned attacking midfielders like Bradley Dack and Pritchard or sticking with the team’s summer acquisition of inexperienced forwards who have yet to score a goal, Mowbray said, “That is not really my decision.” The club will provide opportunities for young players because they want them to play, grow, and be given opportunities.
“I give these young players a chance; that is what I do. Then, because I want to win, a gut feeling tells me that we need to alter.
“That is the genuine honesty and truth of the matter. Sometimes young players are not quite ready, but we work hard to improve them so they can have great careers.”
Speakman, the sporting director, however, disputes the notion that Sunderland’s head coach is under pressure to choose the team. “Selection of the team is similar to training and other things in that we sit around and we all work because we are passionate about football,” he remarked.
As we have done for recruitment and not just team selection for a Saturday, but also in terms of how the team is going to progress and what does it look like, we all approach it differently and have a really open environment. In the end, the coach must make the decision to say, “This is the team I am going with.”
“The way you play the game, you are always trying to figure out how to beat Coventry, and you are trying to match that with the overarching plan, which is about how the team keeps becoming stronger over time. There is intricacy to it and sometimes it leads to more tough conversations, but in the end, the coach has to believe that the team he is picking will perform on Saturday.
It goes without saying that different coaches will make different decisions. We are content with it being an efficient model, so what we want to do is try to make sure that over time they are in line with the kinds of people we are bringing in.”
Speakman does, however, assert that any head coach will be expected to play the attacking football that has come to represent Sunderland, something that both Mowbray and Beale, his successor, have embraced. “We are definitely putting pressure on to play a specific way because Sunderland has an identity and everyone needs to be in line with it, and Tony was definitely in line with that,” he stated.
“I spent hours sitting with Tony in his home room discussing what Sunderland is and what he thought he could do, and he came and he did it for us when he arrived to the football club. Regarding the other elements, such as recruiting or team selection, the coach has a great deal of influence over recruitment and chooses the team.
