Pundit Tips Beale To Suffer Second Defeat As Sunderland Boss On Boxing Day

After Sunderland’s 3-0 thrashing of Coventry City at the Stadium of Light on

Saturday, an EFL commentator predicts that things will get worse for new

Sunderland manager Michael Beale on Boxing Day.

 

Beale had a rough start to his tenure as Wearside’s manager after being named

Tony Mowbray’s permanent replacement in the dugout at the beginning of the

previous week, as Mark Robins’ Sky Blues won all three games.

Just before halftime, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto gave the visitors the lead. However,

Sunderland was unable to equalize, and with just over 20 minutes left, Callum

O’Hare and Kasey Palmer each scored twice to end the game.

According to SAFC Data Analytics, this was the worst loss a manager has experienced on their home debut in the

club’s history, which dates back to the 19th century and spans 41 different

permanent head coaches. The crushing loss was compounded by Hull City’s 3-2

loss away at Bristol City on Friday night, meaning that Sunderland lost a chance

to move back into the playoffs with a victory over Coventry. Nevertheless,

Beale’s team will have another chance to make amends when they visit the Tigers

on Tuesday at the MKM Stadium. The last time Beale faced Hull, Queens Park Rangers defeated Hull 3-1 at Loftus Road.

“Hull have been excellent at some stages this season. At others, they throw in

frustrating performances and end up with results like the ones at Bristol City.

But they have a lot of young players, so there will be some inconsistency.

 

“Michael Beale said his debut could have hardly gone worse, and he’s not entirely

wrong. The result against Coventry on Saturday was a disaster. He needs his

side to hit back quickly, but I think they will be beaten again on Boxing Day.”

Writer’s View

This is a really tricky game for Sunderland and Beale may well find

himself with two defeats from his opening two matches in charge.

However, Hull City’s home form has been quite poor this season and are currently

ranked 11th in the Championship for points accumulated at their own ground.

 

That being said, if the Black Cats are to walk away with all three points, they need to starting scoring goals, having

failed to convert a single chance from an xG of 2.46 on Saturday.