Sunderland midfield options 'not as light as people think,' says Michael Beale

Michael Beale says he has no concerns about the numbers or variety of his midfield options at Sunderland.

Beale inverted the midfield for the win against Stoke, changing it from a double pivot and number ten to a flatter three with Dan Neil sat deeper.

That released Pierre Ekwah and allowed the full-backs more freedom to get forward. The departure of Alex Pritchard, a natural number ten and arrival of Callum Styles, a more conventional midfield player, suggests he intends to persist with that too.

There were criticisms that a natural defensive midfielder was not landed in January, but Beale says he does not believe he has been left short at all. In fact, with Elliot Embleton back in training, he thinks he has midfield strength in depth.

“Last week, I thought Dan [Neil] did a really good job there,” Beale said when asked about the defensive midfield role.

“Elliot Embleton has been back in training this week – he’s been out a long time – and he’s another one that goes into that mix. I want them to be hybrid midfielders.

“I see all three of them more as number eights, so they have to share the workload. Within games, possibly between Dan and Pierre, they’re going to have to share the load and rotate naturally.

“I thought Dan did a great job for us last week because he was almost the spare player as a number six and he did well with that.

“There’ll be different games where we tweak things, and there’s Adil Aouchiche as well, whose natural position would be to play in that eight or ten role.

“It’s also Abdoullah Ba’s preferred position to play as an eight, and Callum Styles certainly gives us another option too. We’re not as light in there as some people think.”

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