For a man who had just watched his new side succumb to a cruel late defeat that hung on a questionable refereeing decision, Dick Advocaat was in a surprisingly talkative mood. Sunderland’s new manager veered away from criticising Lee Mason for his failure to spot Nenê’s blatant foul on Sebastian Larsson in the build-up to Diafra Sakho’s winner in the 88th minute for West Ham United and instead spoke openly about how he plans to win the battle against relegation.
It might not be pretty. While Advocaat would prefer his team to play attractive football, dominating possession and attacking with freedom, he has eight games to preserve Sunderland’s Premier League status and the Dutchman is ready to be pragmatic. This is not the time for idealism. “The only important thing in the final eight games is winning,” Advocaat said. “The way that we do is not important. So if we win games very ugly I like that.”
Advocaat was blunt when he was asked how ugly Sunderland are prepared to be. “Play very negative if the need is there,” he said. While it was not the most uplifting of statements, what it revealed was a manager who is prepared to lead with conviction. Forget about entertainment, this is all about survival, and Advocaat knows that Sunderland must be prepared for a scrap. They remain a point above the bottom three and their position is precarious. They have not won since the end of January.
Yet there was encouragement in Sunderland in patches against West Ham. They played with more heart and commitment than they mustered in the game that brought an end to Gus Poyet’s reign, the shambolic 4-0 defeat to Aston Villa at the Stadium of Light last Saturday, and their attack caused West Ham’s defence a few problems in the first half. Connor Wickham was a threat in his free role behind Steven Fletcher and Jermain Defoe, who wasted Sunderland’s best opportunity, blazing high and wide when he was through on goal after 15 minutes.
Advocaat, however, did not have long to familiarise himself with his new players after replacing Poyet last Tuesday and the international break means that he has a fortnight to sharpen his tactics for the visit of Newcastle United on 5 April. The captain, Lee Cattermole, will return from his suspension and Sunderland are also waiting to discover if Wes Brown, who limped off after 12 minutes at Upton Park, will recover in time for a derby that has assumed extra significance for them.
“I didn’t have so much time tactically wise,” Advocaat said. “I told them to keep it simple. I talked with Wickham about a position that he had never played and he did really well. Now I have time to see my best lineup. Some players will go out. The previous coach promised them a couple of days off. So I will keep that and then we will have one and a half weeks to work.”
For Sunderland, the first half was a small step in the right direction. However they were pushed back by West Ham after half-time and although Sakho’s goal should not have stood, Sunderland had invited pressure by sitting back and settling for a point. Organisation and resilience will be crucial qualities during the run-in, but Sunderland must also learn how to take the initiative.
“We said we had organisation to win the game,” Advocaat said. “You don’t go out to make a draw. But during the game you can feel by yourself that if you aren’t going to win, you have to play for a draw. But I did not have the feeling that West Ham would score a goal, even when they took [Kevin] Nolan off. Then someone else did it.”
Sakho did it. It was the striker’s 12th goal of a productive first season in English football and it sealed West Ham’s first league victory since 18 January, lifting the pressure on Sam Allardyce. “We have won today without Winston Reid, James Tomkins, Andy Carroll and Enner Valencia,” West Ham’s manager said. “You tell me anybody else that has four regular players missing that would have got results?
“We still have more of the teams below us to play than the teams above us and if we continue how well we have done, we will pick up a good few points.”
Man of the match Diafra Sakho (West Ham United)
