Attack-minded Sunderland 'willing to take risks' to chase promotion

Sunderland head coach Michael Beale knows his team's strengths, and they're in the final third of the pitch.

Sunderland will continue to take risks and play attacking football as they chase a play-off position, Michael Beale has promised.

The Black Cats’ defensive record is one of the best in the Championship, although the back four can get overrun at times due to the number of players that are pushed forward.

That was on display against Plymouth last week, when Plymouth forward Ryan Hardie ran clear on goal from inside his own half to open the scoring at the Stadium of Light.

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However, Beale says he has no intention throttling the attacking intent within the Sunderland squad.

"Every team has different strengths and we need to be wary of everyone,” Beale said.

“We want to play with lots of style and freedom but there are other teams out there who look at it differently and have different strengths, with defensive compactness and set plays for example.

“Wins are going to be important, draws can be your nemesis a bit and at the moment, we're willing to take risks against everybody.

“We'll keep players up the pitch and trust in our defensive shape, hoping that when we turn it over we can get at you.

“You saw that against Stoke and Plymouth, we conceded one playing risk football but then scored two of our three doing it. That makes for exciting viewing."

One thing that Beale is looking to increase in his Sunderland team is the intensity. It’s something that the players have been able to show in spells, but not consistently.

However, Beale believes much of that was due to injuries thinning out his squad, and now he is getting players back he is confident they can add it to their game.

"We lost Paddy (Patrick Roberts) in the first 20 minutes in my third game and there's been a lot of football played since then where we've not had that extra option.

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“Now, all of a sudden, we've got Paddy back, Abdoullah [Ba] and Romaine [Mundle], Callum Styles back in training, hopefully Bradley [Dack] back before long...

“It enables us to play with the same intensity for 90 minutes and it's about giving the opposition other problems to solve.

“I'm not sure Plymouth would have guessed our starting XI and that's important, adding something a little bit different to keep other teams guessing." 

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