Johnson getting message across
SUNDERLAND’S resounding win at Lincoln City marked an important early milestone in Lee Johnson’s reign because ‘seeing is believing’.
Since his appointment 10 days ago, Johnson has spoken of the changes he intends to make to the way Sunderland play.
Those tactical tweaks bore fruit on Saturday as the Black Cats thrashed the second-placed Imps 4-0 at Sincil Bank to give the new head coach his first league win in charge.
Johnson says to win in such convincing fashion will help win over players and fans to his methods.
Ahead of tonight’s visit of AFC Wimbledon he said: “You have to get buy-in from the players.
“Any coach or manager needs to build a rapport with the players and they need to feel you know what you are talking about.
“They need to see it happening, because seeing is believing, whether that be for the fans or for the players.
“That is why it was such an important performance for us because the lads have now seen it working so it is not just airy-fairy talk.
“They have to bring that character into action and produce on the day because once the players cross that white line there is very little a coach can do aside from maybe give a bit of detail from the sidelines.
“What we want is the alignment from the board to the coaching staff to the players to the fanbase to the media.
“We need to build up an identity and then when we get fans back into the ground we have to play up to that identity.
“If we do that, this club at this level should be a really powerful beast.”
Johnson oversaw a defeat against Wigan in his first game in charge, a match which came just hours after he was appointed, and earned his first win at Oldham in the EFL Trophy before the visit to Lincoln.
The result and performance against the Imps has lifted the mood on Wearside and, while Johnson knows there is a lot of work still to be done to put Sunderland up among the automatic promotion contenders, he says fans should feel entitled to enjoy the moment.
He added: “I am very happy there is a buzz after the weekend.
“The fans have to be allowed to do whatever they want – if they want to get carried away with the euphoria of a particular result or run, brilliant - if they want to be pessimistic then that is OK too because the club belongs to the fans and we understand that.
“I cannot guarantee a scoreline but what I should be able to guarantee is a consistency of philosophy.
“I have only been here ten days but I am enthused by the way the players have taken on board all the detail and been able to implement it so quickly in what was a difficult game when you look at Lincoln’s league position.
“That is very encouraging moving forward but we have to keep on chipping away at it.
“They did 85% of what I asked them to do and we have to keep on raising that bar.”
Tonight’s game pits Sunderland against an AFC Wimbledon team which sits in mid-table, having lost three of its last four league games, and after leaking so many goals of late may decide to sit back and put men behind the ball.
Johnson says Sunderland must be able to deal with the extra pressure that puts on them to break teams down.
He said: “A draw for most teams in this division at the Stadium of Light is a good result.
“We are seen as a scalp and we have to be strong enough to cope with that.”