Sunderland 'didn't handle the second half well' in Birmingham defeat
Michael Beale after Sunderland's defeat at Birmingham City
- Published
Michael Beale has spoken to BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland commentator Nick Barnes after the Black Cats' 2-0 defeat away to Birmingham City:
"I thought in the first half we looked a really good team. We deserved our 1-0 lead.
"Our pressing was really good first half. We could've probably been 2-0 up but it was a great save by John Ruddy from Romaine [Mundle]. I thought Romaine on his debut looked sharp."
Beale admitted that Sunderland lost the upper hand in the second half:
"We caused Birmingham a lot of problems in the first half. They were trying to press us but our press was stronger than theirs and then it was the complete opposite in the second half.
"We didn't handle the second half well. I tried to make some changes to halt that but it's fair to say that they weren't good decisions because the players that came on didn't really impact the game better than the guys that were already playing."
Sunderland have only won four league games away from home this season and Beale says that isn't good enough:
"Our home form will keep us in the fight. I'm certainly not giving up on anything with this amount of games left but we came into this week hugely optimistic after a really good home performance and the two away games have given us nothing but doubts in terms of our credentials."
Dan Ballard picked up his tenth yellow card of the season after a challenge on Birmingham forward Tyler Roberts and will be forced to sit out the next two matches.
Beale said: "He's played the ball there and I think the referee today let some crazy things go and others he gave. I'm not one to go for the referees, we didn't win or lose this game because of the referee's performance, but I didn't think it was a yellow card.
"I thought he played the ball and you'd like the official to help because that boy now misses two games he doesn't deserve to miss."
Trai Hume was substituted off the pitch in the 88th minute and appeared to have been ignored by the Sunderland Head Coach.
Beale said: "I didn't see him to be honest. Trai passed a fitness test today and he was on a booking so when we made the change it was easier to keep Leo [Hjelde] on. So if I missed him I'll have to go and say that to him now.
"Me and Trai are probably as close to each other as I am to any player on the squad. So there was nothing there between me and him.
