Pierre Ekwah has explained what Michael Beale at half-time during Sunderland’s win over Plymouth Argyle yesterday.
Sunderland put on a rather underwhelming first half display that ended with them falling behind due to a well-worked goal that was only encouraged by some poor positioning from Anthony Patterson.
The Black Cats looked much better in the second half though, dominating possession and netting three excellent goals in the space of 15 minutes to claim a vital three points.
Pierre Ekwah opened the scoring with a brilliantly thought out free-kick that saw Patrick Roberts lay it off, before the Frenchman place the ball perfectly into the net.
Jack Clarke then pulled off arguably one of his best as the campaign as he cut inside from the byline and took his signature shot from the outside of the box.
Jobe Bellingham wanted a bit of the action though after being dropped for only the third time this season. Only two minutes after he was brought on, the midfielder ran from almost the halfway line to inside the box, before curling one home and confirming a comfortable win on home soil.
While it was pure quality that grabbed all three points, Ekwah has admitted that it was what Michael Beale told them at half-time that ‘really helped’.
Speaking to Sunderland Echo after the game, Ekwah said: “The gaffer gave us some great advice at half-time and we definitely took it and put the words into action so it was good.
“When a team away from home come and are organised defensively, it’s difficult to take them down. Maybe you are not going to do it in the first half but you can do it in the second half.
“We came out with a different, maybe not mindset but our thinking was sharper in the second half. That really helped us a lot and we ended up winning the second half. We lost the first half but we won the second half.
“When you are in the top eight, top ten of the Championship, teams away from home will come and sit and you have to find a way, and we did. We are getting better and better at it through the season which is good. We just showed in the second half how you should start the first half.”
Is Michael Beale turning things around?
Michael Beale definitely has to take a lot of credit for that win against Plymouth, especially given how Sunderland seem to have struggled to turn performances around at half-time quite like they did yesterday afternoon.
It probably should have happened a few games earlier, but dropping Jobe proved to be a brilliant decision and he may not have scored that goal if he had gone another match without some kind of rest.
We looked much tighter in defence and looked much more capable of creating chances in the second half.
While I think there is a way to go to completely trust Beale, but this is definitely a step in the right direction and perhaps we aren’t in as big a trouble as first thought.