Michael Beale explains his surprise Sunderland selection decision and reacts to fan frustration at Ipswich

admin | January 13, 2024 | Other Clubs | No Comments

Micheal Beale says he shares the frustration of Sunderland’s support after the defeat to Ipswich Town

Nazariy Rusyn was left out of Sunderland’s starting lineup against Ipswich Town, but Michael Beale stood by his choice, saying his team did enough to win the match.

Who is Michael Beale, the brain behind Rangers' success with an incredible CV who is on Cardiff City's radar - Wales Online

The head coach of Sunderland acknowledged that he understood some of the fans’ displeasure, though, since the team is desperately trying to find a cutting edge in the closing third. Midway through the second half, Beale decided to start Jobe Bellingham up top, despite the away fans’ cries of “we want a striker” after Conor Chaplin had given the home team the lead. The Black Cats took the lead in the first half, but Jack Clarke’s individual skill once more proved to be the difference as he scored his 13th goal of the season with a spectacular

Rusyn was finally introduced by Beale in the 83rd minute, and Mason Burstow followed about five minutes after that. Beale, who earlier this week stated that Sunderland will attempt to recruit an experienced center striker in the January window if feasible, believes he is trying to increase the team’s productivity in the last third.

“We did play with a striker, we played with Jobe,” Beale said.

“He can play there and he’s done so in games that we’ve won. We’ve got four young strikers, three young strikers who I think it is fair to say are adjusting to this league, and another guy who has done well but I just felt that the connection of the team was better with Pritch playing off Jobe.

I’ve inherited the situation, and I’m making progress with it. Naz has played more since I’ve been here, but you also want to give players credit for their efforts, and I thought Abdoullah had a great training week and should have been able to play. He had an impact on the initial objective. I can definitely relate to some of the supporters’ frustration with this circumstance. Since the team is searching for something that might assist us up front, I believe we do as well. In addition, we’re in a strong position in the league if we discover it, so we can move forward from there.

Beale also defended his decision to replace Ba early in the second half, after the winger assisted Clarke for the opener. Adil Aouchiche missed a big chance shortly after his introduction and gave away the free kick from which Chaplin scored.

“Yeah, maybe,” Beale said, asked if Ba was unfortunate to be withdrawn.

“But then Adil comes on and gets a big moment, and if he takes then it is the right decision. That’s why this is a game of fine margins. It’s disappointing tonight, when you lose a game you can pick holes in everything but I think we’re sat here asking, ‘how did we lose that game’. That’s the consensus I think, so it wasn’t all wrong. I just think it was very naive from us in a big moment in the game, and that’s the fine margins. You could see how much it meant to Ipswich at the end and in that one moment from the set play, it had to mean more to us.”

Post Views: 54