Boss takes a real pop at his shot-shy Black Cats
CHRIS Coleman has urged his Sunderland players to show no fear when it comes to pulling the trigger in front of goal.
The Black Cats have scored four times in the Welshman’s three games in charge so far but he wants to see them taking more chances to take a pop at goal.
Sunderland trailed Reading 3-0 at one stage last Saturday but, despite being down to 10 men, had chances to further reduce the deficit after Lewis Grabban has pulled one back from the penalty spot.
Coleman wants them to gamble in front of goal.
He said: “We got a goal and then we had one or two situations where for whatever reason we were reluctant to pull the trigger.
“We should not be. We should have a shot but we don’t, we seem to be always looking for that perfect moment which never comes.
“There are a lot of things for us to think about, the players have been here many, many times.
“So how do we get away from that and break that?
“That is what we need to focus on as soon as we get back into training.”
While Grabban maintained his impressive goalscoring record, Coleman was also impressed with another cameo performance from Joel Asoro.
The 18-year-old Swedish striker has come off the bench in each of the new manager’s first three games in charge and won the penalty which gave the Black Cats a glimmer of hope.
His performances have been a major plus for Coleman.
The manager added: “There were some good signs against Reading up until we had a man sent off.
“After that we were up against it and Reading went on to deservedly win the game.
“Joel is positive, he is direct, and I think he gave us a bit of life. He is very quick and he did not have any fear.”