Were Toon Hit By 'Back-To-Basics' Tactics?

Last updated : 29 October 2015 By Footy Mad - Editor

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Sam Allardyce's "back-to-basics" approach is already a hit with his Sunderland players, according to Billy Jones.

Jones was among the scorers as Sunday's derby win over Newcastle gave Allardyce a first victory since succeeding Dick Advocaat as manager.

The 3-0 win was also Sunderland's first in this season's Premier League, and Jones is putting the improvement down to a new boss he calls the perfect appointment.

"We have already benefited from the new gaffer's ideas and now we have to follow it up," said the full-back, quoted in several national newspapers on Wednesday.

"He held some one-on-one meetings last week and after Sunday's game, there was a sheet out for the other lads to have their meetings this week. So it was quite nice to have a one-on-one with the gaffer after a derby win.

"We were down before he came but he has brought back some belief by basically saying, 'If you do what I say, I show you what to do and you do it, then we will win games'. If you have a manager who believes that and the players believe it too, we will win games.

"He puts real emphasis on the defensive side. Several times in the build up to Newcastle, we have split into defensive and attacking units with the manager doing the defensive stuff.

"He tries to simplify things so there are no grey areas. He tells us the right times to squeeze, the angles to squeeze and just getting back to basics which is what we needed.

"At this stage, he was probably the perfect option. The work we have put in on the training ground so far, the analysis we do and the stats we look at, is a total flip side to what the previous manager was doing."

Next up is a Super Sunday trip to Everton. Jones said: "You can take confidence from good performances and getting a draw, but there is nothing better than winning. We are really happy to have achieved it and we just want to move on."