Michael Beale has explained his rather controversial team selection following Sunderland’s defeat to Ipswich Town.
Sunderland fans were left baffled when they spotted Nazariy Rusyn absent from the starting line-up ahead of yesterday’s trip to Portman Road.
The Ukrainian was replaced by Abdoullah Ba, while Jobe Bellingham had been pushed forward to occupy the No.9 position.
The decision came after Nazariy Rusyn became the first Sunderland striker to score this season, netting the Black Cats’ second goal in their 2-0 win over Preston North End on New Year’s Day.
Rusyn was then handed another start against Newcastle United in the FA Cup, and put on a decent performance despite the result.
The forward wasn’t rewarded for his display against Preston though, and was instead dropped for Ba, who has put on some ‘woeful’ performances as of late.
Michael Beale has now explained his decision, claiming the team ‘connection’ was better with Jobe up top.
Speaking to Sunderland Echo, the head coach said: “We did play with a striker, we played with Jobe.
“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.
“It’s a situation I’ve inherited and it’s something that I’m working away at. Since I’ve come in Naz has had more moments on the pitch, but you also want to reward players and I felt Abdoullah had a very good week in training and deserved to play. He was influential in the first goal. It’s a situation where I share some of the frustration that the fans are feeling, for sure. I think the team do as well because we’re looking for something up front that would help us. What I would say as well is that if we find it, we’re in a good position in the league and we can kick on from there.”
What did Nazariy Rusyn do to warrant his dropping?
Jobe Bellingham has impressed at times up front, netting that brace against Rotherham United earlier this season.
But the teenager has struggled at midfield in recent games, never-mind out of position.
Jobe was probably the one player who deserved to be dropped after the Newcastle United defeat, but Michael Beale instead kept him in and removed the only Sunderland striker to score in almost a year.
Rusyn was full of confidence and had the perfect opportunity to keep his form going, but he will feel punished now – and he will feel even more confused that Beale brought in a player who had been underperforming since before Christmas.
While Abdoullah Ba did actually look quite impressive against Ipswich yesterday, Rusyn was still very hard done by and could have well changed the game if he had started – or even just come on earlier.
Beale made a huge mistake – not for the first time and certainly not the last time. It is very concerning watching the former Rangers boss take us in the completely wrong direction, and the owners don’t seem to care at all.