Mike Dodds has revealed what he told Timothee Pembele and Callum Styles at half-time during Sunderland’s draw with Leeds United.
Sunderland held Leeds United to a 0-0 stalemate at Elland Road last night, gifting them four points against the title challengers this season.
The Black Cats set up with a similar formation to the one that beat the Whites at the Stadium of Light, however this time he gave Timothee Pembele his first start, while Callum Styles returned after he was dropped last time out.
Fans were a little sceptical over Mike Dodds‘ decision at Elland Road, however it appeared to pay off as they limited Leeds’ attack to only one shot on target – ending their nine-game winning streak on home soil.
After praising Pembele’s ‘professional’ performance on his full debut, the Sunderland coach explained what he told the full-back pairing at half-time.
Mike Dodds wanted them to be ‘adventurous’
Speaking to the Sunderland Echo, Dodds said: “I had a little conversation with them at half time about the in-possession stuff because I felt they were too reserved, and I wanted them to be a little more adventurous.
“When Callum was more adventurous in the first half I thought that we had a better structure with the ball as a result, but in general both of them executed what we asked of them. Everyone to a man out of possession did we asked, and as I said my tinge of disappointment was our in-possession stuff because I think if we’d got that right, I think we’d have been the first team to win here this season.”
A solid showing from the Frenchman & Hungarian
I was certainly quite wary seeing both Timothee Pembele and Callum Styles’ names on the team-sheet yesterday, especially given the latter’s terrible performance at wing-back against Swansea City.
However, they were both pretty solid defensively and it didn’t even seem like they had too much to do.
The duo only needed to make three tackles and one interception between them, with the three central defenders taking on most of the hard work – which seemed to work very well.
Pembele and Styles were allowed to push forward a lot more and posed a threat to Leeds’ defence, with the former’s brilliant cross in for Jack Clarke early on providing one of the visitors’ best chances.
The Frenchman has waited a long time to be given his opportunity and was really thrown in at the deep end last night, and while he looked raw and like he hadn’t played much senior football recently, his display was certainly very promising for next season.