BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland commentator Nick Barnes has shared his thoughts following Michael Beale's first press conference.
You can listen to the Total Sport Sunderland AFC Podcast on BBC Sounds.
Sunderland are winless in seven league games against Coventry City (D4 L3) since a 2-0 win in February 2007.
Coventry have won one of their last 15 league visits to Sunderland (D7 L7), a 5-4 win in League One in April 2019.
Sunderland have won seven of their last 10 home league games (L3), including the last two in a row. They haven’t won three in a row within the top-two tiers of English football since February 2012 in the Premier League.
Only Huddersfield Town (10) have drawn more Championship games this season than Coventry City (9). The Sky Blues have drawn their last two, scoring first in a 1-1 draw against Southampton and coming from a goal down to draw 1-1 at Leeds last time out.
Alex Pritchard has three assists in his last two Championship appearances at the Stadium of Light – his previous three home league assists came over a period of 33 matches.
Give us your score predictions and any other pre-match thoughts here.
Can the Beale era start with a win at the Stadium of Light?
Give us your score predictions and any other pre-match thoughts here.
Players from Sunderland's men's and women's team have delivered Christmas presents to kids in hospital.
Luke O'Nien and co., visited Sunderland Royal Hospital armed with gifts from Santa.
Captain O'Nien even video called Jobe Bellingham so one of the young fans could talk to his favourite player and request a special celebration when he scores.
Former Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe has revealed his "worst pre-season trip ever" was during his time on Wearside.
Talking on his Football Firsts podcast with Troy Deeney, Defoe has recounted the tale of the Black Cats' pre-season trip to Geneva which included plane failures and an injury for the forward.
In the same podcast Defoe also tells a story of being in the middle of a fight between Drake and Connor Wickham while in Toronto.
Image source, Getty ImagesSunderland head coach Michael Beale says he admires the way fans have reacted to his appointment at the club.
In an interview with BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland commentator Nick Barnes, Beale said: "I’ve got a lot of admiration for the way the fans have actually reacted because what it tells me is they love their club and it’s important to them and they’re protecting it, if you like.
"They’re asking the right questions and they’re protecting it from this guy from a different part of the country."
The new boss continued, "This is a huge opportunity for me. I think I’m the right person to be part of the Sunderland family moving forward but I’ve got to earn the right to be part of it, you know?
"So I’ve been given the job but what I do next is really important.
"And I don’t hold. All of the noise. I don’t see it all because I’m focused on the job in house but I’d have to be living on the moon not to have been or some of my family or some of the other staff who have rightly pushed me in the rib a little bit with some of it but look, it’s par for it.
"That’s because the fans love this football club and that’s what makes this football club what it is. I’ll have to win them over and that’s what I’m here to do. I’m certainly… If I was worried about that, I wouldn’t be sat here now. You know, if I wanted to go and take an easy job but this excites me, the potential here."
Beale is also very aware of the size of the club, but rather than feel the pressure seems to be relishing in it: "We sell out the home stadium.
"Biggest crowd in the Championship. Certainly if we’re not the biggest, we’re there. Then we go to every away game and we sell it out like, that weight, that strength, that power, that’s what you want. In terms of the power that’s behind the team and it’s exciting. You can hear it in my voice.
"Like, if you’re going to work in football, work at a club that matters. Work where there’s expectation. Work where there’s potential."
Image source, Getty ImagesAs Michael Beale was unveiled as Sunderland's new head coach, sporting director Kristjaan Speakman was asked for clarity on why previous boss Tony Mowbray was sacked by the club.
Speakman said: "I think ultimately, the club’s obsessed with progression and improving and we felt to meet that progression and that improvement, we need to make a change.
"Do you make the change early? And then maybe it’s a surprise and people are maybe concerned and like you said it doesn’t really weigh up to maybe the results, you know because we weren’t in a bad position.
"Or do you make the decision late? Michael spoke about the opportunity to come into a team which is performing well. The team is in a good spot. He hasn’t got to pick the team up off a long series of poor negative results or position in the table.
"And we just felt that that was the right time to make the change.”
Image source, Getty ImagesMichael Beale has spoken to the media for the first time as Sunderland head coach alongside sporting director Kristjaan Speakman.
Talking to BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland commentator Nick Barnes, Speakman gave insight into why Tony Mowbray was sacked and the potential progression of Mike Dodds.
Beale discussed trying to poach Dodds from Speakman in the past, admiring the Sunderland fans' reaction to his appointment and wanting to work at a club with so much expectation and passion from supporters.
The new boss also spoke about the upcoming FA Cup third round derby with the Mags and his first game in charge this weekend against Coventry.
Image source, Getty ImagesBen Platt, from the QPR podcast W12, speaking on BBC Radio Newcastle's Total Sport about new Sunderland head coach Michael Beale: "You can expect someone who is very confident, borderline arrogant but in a kind of good way.
"When he came into QPR he hadn't had any experience so we were quite sceptical but he quickly galvanised the players.
"What he's quite good at is picking out a couple of players and really motivating them and getting them going. That's what he did with Chris Willock and Illias Chair when they were there. He made them the focal point.
"He loves full-backs as well. I know Sunderland have got a couple of decent full-backs. So, I think the full-backs played really high.
"He's a good talker. I've got no doubt that he wowed your chairman with a nice presentation. That's how he got the QPR job.
"He's a really good talker in post and pre-match press conferences, you'll notice that. He's quite honest and frank which was quite refreshing from our side.
"It's just a shame he decided to up and leave us after a few months in charge."
Image source, Getty ImagesSunderland's under-21 side fielded a remarkable starting line-up consisting of all four strikers who signed in the summer for their PL2 game against Arsenal.
Nazariy Rusyn, Eliezer Mayenda, Hemir and Mason Burstow all started at Eppleton as the young Black Cats lost 2-1.
Despite the disappointing result, Sunderland fans might be encouraged by Rusyn's goal in the first half. The Ukrainian striker grabbed the first goal of the game - a diving header finishing off a cross from Bradley Dack.
Fans have been clamouring for one of the four to find the back of the net and many will hope this goal for the youth team will translate to the senior side soon.
Image source, Getty ImagesNew Sunderland head coach Michael Beale has called joining the club "a huge honour."
In a statement on the club's website Beale said: “It’s a huge honour to be joining the Sunderland family and I would like to thank Kyril, Kristjaan and the rest of the Executive Team for the faith and responsibility they have placed in me.
The existing coaching team deserve huge credit for the way they navigated the interim period and like all of the staff at the club, they will continue to be vitally important moving forward alongside the incredible fans that make SAFC such an historic and unique club.
It’s clear there is some excellent work being done at senior and academy level and I’m excited to support those efforts and implement my own ideas, as we build on the strong identity already established within the club.”
We asked for your reaction to Sunderland appointing Michael Beale as the team's new head coach.
Here are some of your comments:
Jim: Jury is out on Beale but let's get behind him and the team. Ultimately he will be judged on results, so let's get the party started at home to Coventry on Saturday.
Fred: Not looking forward to this. The reputation that he’s got from QPR/Rangers seems dire. Dodds better stay prominent in his managerial status alongside Beale.
Jonah: Not a great appointment given the ambition that was shown with other links, he hasn't show in previous jobs the style of play the club embodies now. However, he has done well and overachieved previously in The Championship so I don't feel it's as bad an appointment as people are making it out to be, trust the ownership and board at the club.
Michael: It's quite underwhelming after some of the names that have been mentioned, but unlike those names, Beale does have experience in this league and was highly thought of at QPR. He's also worked a lot with some big names when they came through, and we have a very young squad with a lot of potential. Could be a great appointment. Time will tell!
Jeff: Probably not the manager most were hoping for, but the same was said when Mowbray was appointed. Just have to trust the owner as the club is in far better place than it was before he came.
Brian: Not really excited about it but neither was I by the Neil and Mowbray appointments and they turned out OK. Let's put our trust in Mr Speakman's appointment and get behind the lads.
Allen: It’s another (initially) underwhelming appointment, hopefully he will carry on the trend of proving me wrong. It would be nice to one day get someone from another club instead of just going with out of work coaches as it smacks a bit of desperation! Hopefully I'll be proved wrong. Get behind him and the team and see what happens!
Gary: Good luck to the guy and hoping he can build on Mowbray’s success moving us to the Premier League ASAP. He and the players have a unique opportunity to go down in SAFC folklore.
Claire: I feel totally let down by the club. Mowbray was a brilliant manager, his issue was the lack of recruitment and experience in the team. He lost his job because he dares to challenge Speakman. Just see this unproven manager as a cheap 'yes man'. Just when you think Sunderland are in a good place the club gives you a sucker punch!
Roman: Let's get behind and give him a chance.
Michael: We are a disaster, the owners have a plan? To spend as little a possible money on players or the infrastructure and think the fans will take it. If we are going to succeed we need to start recruiting more high profile managers and players. I understand we need to balance the books and financial fair play. But have some adventure and bottle. KLD.
Lawrence: Why sack Tony Mowbray to bring in a second rate manager? I am afraid he got appointed as cheapest option. Step backwards in my opinion.
Jeff: Sorry but that's if for me until Speakman is gone. 65 years old and seen this happen too often now, go for cheap and unproven and cross your fingers.
Grahame: IMO it's a step backwards. TM was backed by the fans he got the younger players playing without fear expressing themselves. The consensus of opinion in the supporters branch is Beale will have to work miracles to get fans backing him but let's see what happens 🙏🤞
Image source, Getty ImagesSunderland have announced Michael Beale as the club's new head coach.
Former Rangers and QPR boss Beale has also been part of the coaching staff at Liverpool's academy, Sao Paulo and Aston Villa.
The new head coach will take charge for the first time at the Stadium of Light when the Black Cats face Coventry City in the Championship.
Beale, 43, succeeds Tony Mowbray who was sacked after 15 months on Wearside.
What do you think of Beale's appointment, Sunderland fans? Let us know here.
Image source, Getty ImagesSunderland interim head coach on Sunderland having refereeing decisions go against them in their loss to Bristol City: "I'll be honest with you I've not watched it back.
"Obviously the lads aren't very happy with the decision. Look. It is what it is. They've got to get on with it.
"They've got to stop moaning about it because the facts are if we don't have the 15 minute spell, I think we go and win the game regardless of those penalty decisions.
"So, look, I can sit here and moan about those decisions. I could sit here and say, you know, we should have this and we should have that but that's not my character.
"My character is, I want to see a Sunderland team that everyone's really, really proud of.
"I want to see a Sunderland team that is completely dominant whether that's in or out of possession and like the previous two games, you know I've had a lot of credit for the last two games in terms of the way we set up.
"I felt the game plan in terms of how we set up was exactly what we thought was going to happen in the game.
"The difference between those two games and this game was we were just sloppy and that's the bit that really, kind of, like eats away at me."
Listen to Mike Dodds' full interview with BBC Radio Newcastle's Nick Barnes here.
We asked for your thoughts on Sunderland's 1-0 defeat to Bristol City.
Here are some of your comments:
Steve: Why do Sunderland constantly play from the back, we are not good enough to do this, putting pressure on defence every time, let's just play football properly, we haven't got a centre forward to aim for, but we can still put it into the channels.
Gordon: What a pathetic display in front of goal the sooner the better for Speakman to be let go let the manager manage give him full rein BRING BACK MOWBRAY.
Peter: Sunderland have probably got the best two wingers in the Championship but zero strikers for them to supply to It will make no difference who the coach is if we cannot get a striker in
Image source, Getty ImagesSunderland midfielder Dan Neil has reacted to Sunderland's 1-0 defeat to Bristol City: “I think it’s kind of the same story as a lot of games this year.
"I think we’ve dominated for a good 80 minutes of a game but there’s almost that ten minutes of madness where we become a bit slack, a bit sloppy, lose our concentration and today when we’ve done that, in that ten minute period, we’ve been stung and we got punished for it.
"There was a few mistakes before the eventual one that led to the goal that could have got punished but I think other than that madness of a ten minutes, we played really well throughout the game and we created so many chances that I felt we should have got something from the game.”
“I think the game plan was absolutely spot on like it has been the last two games.
"We knew everything. Everything that the coaching staff has said was going to happen, happened.
"Sometimes when you’ve got so much of the ball, you know, you can become a little bit blasé sometimes but as a team and as a young team we need to cut that out of our games and the sooner we do it, the sooner we [will] probably be on the right end of results at these types of places.
"You know, going from them two unbelievable results in the last two games, we really wanted to finish off the week with a win and three out of three because it’s very hard to do in this league and it’s a bit of a statement.
"So, we’re all just gutted.”
Image source, Getty Images"Annoyed. Frustrated. Angry. Disappointed." The feelings of Sunderland's interim head coach Mike Dodds after his side's 1-0 loss at Bristol City.
In an interview with BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland commentator Nick Barnes, Dodds revealed: "I had a real honest conversation with the players there.
"I think 15 minutes of just madness where we just don't stick to the game plan, we don't stick to the script, ultimately has cost us the game.
"I know that sounds really, really simplistic but if you look at the first half performance to the second half performance, nothing changed from a technical or tactical point of view.
"Nothing changed and I think that's my anger. That's my anger around the result because it was just a mentality thing for me.
"It was just we moved the ball much quicker. We got the ball forward much quicker. I said to the staff on about 70 minutes, 'that's the first time we got outside their half.'
"So I'm angry. I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed for the fans. I'm disappointed in particular for the two and a half thousand or whatever it was that turned up because they always come in such great voice.
"That's a game that really we should be coming out with at least a point and there's been too many of those games this season and that's my frustration."
Image source, Getty ImagesFormer Sunderland captain Gary Bennett, speaking on BBC Radio Newcastle about the loss to Bristol City: “We made mistakes in the first 45 minutes and we were punished for it. Poor clearance by Patterson.
"And again, you look at maybe the starting formation. It didn’t work. We tweaked it for the second half and we just couldn’t get back into the game.
"We kept knocking on the door. There was maybe three or four shall we say penalty shouts which didn’t go our way. And again, missing a striker stood out.”
