The recruitment admissions Lee made in post-match assessment
In his post-match assessment Lee Johnson is, in his own words, 'obsessive' about being objective.
His point being not to allow a good result to mask a poor performance too much, and vice versa.
So on Tuesday night he was relativelycalm,clearlyfrustrated with soft goals conceded, but pleased about elements of histeam'sperformance.There was also a clear message to his squad. The head coach again insisted that his group are capable of winning promotion, and that there were some who had to be stronger in believing it themselves.
In some players, he wants to see more 'pitch personality'.
JohnsonwantsSunderland toplaywithaswagger,onethat iscurrentlythereonlyinpatches. In this there was also an interesting admission from the Black Cats boss, as he looks aheadtoaninevitablesummer rebuild regardless of whether this season ends in promotion or not.
Five months in the job has given a strong understanding of the demands that come with playing for Sunderland and Johnson hinted that this would be front and centre in his thoughts when it comes to recruitment.
"It was almost passive aggressive in the dressing room afterwards,'believeinyourself and there's another 7% there," Johnson said.
"There'scertainplayersthat have got to trust that they're good enough to be here, I pick
them because I trust them and wewingameswiththeminthe team. Sometimes it's like they don't feel like they should be here and that's something I've probably got to consider when I'm recruiting as well.
"It'sthatvelocityandpower of the club, it's something that needs to be handled to bring out your best performance nine times out of ten."
There was a further insight
into Johnson's future thinking for supporters in the postmatch press conference, too.
The head coach has to be flexible in both his formations andselectionsinrecentweeks, challenged by both a hectic schedule and a raft of defensive injuries.
Tuesday night's game saw Johnson revert to a 4-3-3 system for the first time since the 4-1 win over Doncaster Rovers
in February, though Hull City's strength in the second half forced a slight reshuffle as AidenO'Brienenteredthefray.
The initial results were nevertheless encouraging and Johnson said moving forward, it'stheshapethatwillguidehis squad-building.
“I think that’s always the preferred shape," he said.
"I haven’t always been able to play that, but it’s what we’ll recruit to – a six, an eight and a ten.
"Sometimes, you play with two eights or two sixes and a ten, to whatever. But that version of 4-3-3 is what we’re well suited to. For whatever reason, sometimes this season wehaven’tbeenabletodothat. Mainly,it’sbecausewehavefive centre-halves out injured!"
Johnson will be part of a revamped recruitment operation this summer, set to be led by head of recruitment Stuart Harvey. Harvey will report into Sporting Director Kristjaan Speakman, and will be tasked withidentifyingtargetswhofit the attributes Johnson wants for each position.
Johnson will then settle on targets with the pair, with Speakmaninsistingthatthefinal say will belong to the head coach.