MCGEADY SLAMS COLEMAN TACTICS IN DOCUMENTARY
Sunderland winger Aiden McGeady has laid into former manager Chris Coleman’s tactics and management style in the revealing Netflix documentary.
The Irish winger blasts Coleman over his role in the Black Cats’ relegation from the Championship in ‘Sunderland Til I Die’, which is set to be aired next week.
The documentary, by production company Fulwell73, goes behind the scenes at the club during last season, chronicling the continued fall.
And The Sun has revealed that McGeady, speaking in episode seven of the show, blasts Coleman who couldn’t guide Sunderland away from relegation after taking over from Simon Grayson.
He said of Coleman’s management style: “If a player keeps making the same mistake, show them the mistake they are making.
“I’ve had managers before who come in and go crazy. He just kind of comes in and it’s: ‘We could have done this better, right, sound, move on’.
“It’s just kind of an acceptance of, ‘That’s OK’. You come into training a couple of days later and everyone is laughing and joking and we’ve just been beaten 3-0 at home.
McGeady was also critical of Coleman’s 4-3-3 formation in the 1-1 draw with Millwall, seven weeks before the club were relegated.
“The instructions that he gave the wingers were to stay high and wide,” McGeady said. “I’d never played in a 4-3-3 before so I was a bit unsure of what to do when I didn’t have the ball.
“We have no chance of winning a game with that system – almost impossible to win it.”
Coleman took over in November with Sunderland in the relegation zone after a run of just one win from the first 15 games under Grayson.
After an initial uplift in results, Sunderland slumped back into trouble and were eventually relegated after losing at home to Burton Albion in April.
One of the key factors in failing to survive, according to McGeady, was Coleman’s treatment of striker Lewis Grabban.
The forward was on a season-long loan at the club from Bournemouth, and had hist 12 goals, but was allowed to return to his parent club in January after both parties agreed to cutting the deal short.
Coleman and Grabban were understood to not get along, but Republic of Ireland winger McGeady says Coleman should have ‘managed the player’ better.
Sunderland failed to replace Grabban’s goals in the January transfer window, with loan replacement Ashley Fletcher proving to be a flop after his move from Middlesbrough.
McGeady said: “Even if you don’t like Grabbs as a person, but you know he’s valuable to the team because he’s scored 12 goals – manage the player.
“I think the manager thought that Grabbs was disposable and we’d get someone else in who could do the same job, but that never happened.”