'Not how we want to play football' - Michael reveals message to Sunderland players

Michael Beale has revealed what he told his Sunderland players at half-time during their comeback win over Plymouth.

Michael Beale says he told his Sunderland team to cut out the backwards passes in the win over Plymouth, saying ‘that’s now how we want to play football.’

Sunderland’s 3-1 win over The Pilgrims was a true game of two halves, with Beale admitting that some ‘honest words’ were needed at half time in the Black Cats’ dressing room.

After the game, two of Sunderland’s goalscorers, Pierre Ekwah and Jack Clarke, both credited Beale’s half-time words for playing a major role in the turnaround.

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Now, Beale has revealed exactly what he told his players.

"What we spoke about at half-time - too many backwards passes, too slow, one too many touches.

“That's not how we want to play football and it's important that we reset and we play well, better than today, away at Huddersfield.

Sunderland have not always performed well against teams towards the bottom of the Championship table this season.

That includes a disappointing 1-1 draw at basement club Rotherham under Beale and a 1-0 home defeat to Huddersfield when former boss Tony Mowbray was in charge.

It’s something that Beale wants to put right in the reverse fixture against the Terriers this week.

"We're going to go to a team that's fighting for its life on Wednesday so the points are going to be really important for them," Beale said.

"We don't start 1-0 up or 1-0 down. We reset and must play every single game, every minute of the game with the right mentality and quality. We have to be positive.

"We can only do our job. If we hadn't done our job today and seen the results in the league, we would have really regretted it."

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