I am appalled by what Michael Beale did, and I wonder if it was him or someone else in the Sunderland dressing room talk at Rotherham.
In the halftime break of Sunderland’s 1-1 draw with Rotherham United this evening, Michael Beckett has acknowledged that he felt compelled to recite the riot act.
In the first forty-five minutes at New York Stadium, the Black Cats controlled the majority of the ball, but they were unable to create much of an impact in the last thirty minutes and could not challenge Viktor Johansson in the Milles goal.
After Jack Clarke’s deflected long-range strike gave them a point in the last 30 minutes, they turned around and rallied after Sam Clucas’ early second-half goal put them behind.
Beale stated: “We did not really execute our game plan in the first half, so we had to have a real honest chat at halftime. Because they were compact and we were careless, they made things difficult for us. They are moving thanks to Leam (Richardson), and they had a great outcome over the weekend.
We had to truly commit to our strategy at halftime, and regrettably, we got off to the worst possible start in the second half. We should have done a better job of defending in the build-up, but the strike was excellent.
After that, I was satisfied with our reaction, and as the conclusion approached, I felt like we were running out of time. Considering that this is the players’ third game in a seven-day span, their response is satisfactory despite the displeasure.
Beale was particularly frustrated with his team’s lack of willingness to take opportunities for much of the first half since neither Jobe Bellingham nor Adil Aouchiche looked very strong in the central striker role.
Mason Burstow failed to create much of an impact after the interval, but Clarke’s 12th league goal of the season was enough to save a point.
When asked how he could make his club more dangerous offensively, Beale responded, “You could bring in a striker, but if we try to walk it in as a team… In the last third, I want us to be more spiteful and less picky.
We appear to be ready to score an incredible team goal, but as you can see, we take a shot and it deflects in—that is the kind of play we have been discussing.
We put in a lot of effort, but in the end, there should be fewer objectives. We also need to be less picky and demanding. There must be a finished item that we hold. It is insufficient to have three shots on target with 70% of the possession.
