'Negative and backwards' - Michael Beale makes candid Sunderland admission

Sunderland were so bad in the second half against Birmingham that even Michael Beale was perplexed by what he saw.

Michael Beale has admitted that Sunderland were ‘negative and went backwards’ in defeat to Birmingham, while he also questioned his own substitutions.

Sunderland put in what was probably their worst 45 minutes of the season at St Andrews, with even Michael Beale struggling to get his head around it.

“I just felt we were a little bit too easy to play against in the second half,” Beale said. “We played in front of them

“Straight away, even if you look at us taking kick-off, we were negative and went backwards.

“I would like us to be more positive, it’s on me as a coach to find the solutions and to make us play and give instructions for us to improve.

“Even today the subs could have had a greater impact so again am I making the right decisions in those moments?”

The real sense of frustration is the dreadful second-half performance came after such an encouraging one before the break.

Beale says some of that is down to ‘tired legs’, but what exactly did he say to them at half-time?

“We spoke about what to expect in the second half,” he said. “We knew the crowd would get behind them and they would squeeze up.

“I thought we played in front of them and made it a little bit easy to be pressed. Could we run behind more or hold the ball up?

“It’s a really really poor second half considering the great position we were in at half time.

“What people don’t know is that people like Trai Hume passed a fitness test and they’re going to the well for us.

“I absolutely love him for the mentality that he has. There are players this week who have played all three games and after Wednesday’s game were a little bit mentally and physically drained.” 

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