Gus Poyet bans Sunderland from passing backwards before FA Cup tie with Bradford

Louis Van Gall might want to look into this

If you're manager who sees his team unable to find a teammate when they are within spitting distance, then it's time to take drastic measures. According to reports today it seems that Gus Poyet was so enraged by his sides lack of ability to find a teammate in the same jersey recently  that he banned them from passing either backwards or sideways in training. That leaves you really with just one option,lump it forward. Jermaine Defoe is going to love that. QPR recorded their first away win all season last week when they beat Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in what was a frankly woeful performance from the home side. The Uruguayan has decided his players can't be trusted to pass it simple, so instead they are going to go long,really long. The Sunderland manager admitted in his pre-match press conference before Sunday's FA Cup clash with Bradford that fans are getting frustrated with his sides inability to find a teammate :

 'If I am in the stand watching my team - the one I love and wait all week to watch - and I see 11 players who cannot pass the ball three yards, what am I going to do? I am going to get upset.'

Poyet is in the job 15 months at this stage and despite having staved off relegation in his first few months in charge, the former Chelsea man is now struggling to inspire performances from his side. He feels a radical plan to get the team to play more direct may be better for the players he's currently working with,

'You cannot imagine how much I am having to change. Before I came here, I was recognised for playing a certain style of football. Are we playing that football? No. Do I want to lose that recognition? No. I am going to fight it, but there is a process, and the process at the moment is that I have to do certain things to move the ball differently. I made up a rule in some of the sessions where there weren't too many passes backwards or sideways. How many times have we played out from the back in the last three months? Hardly ever, but we should really be playing every single ball. We’re not, and that’s because I am adapting because we can’t.

It's just a little bit sad to see Poyet having to change his whole belief just to try and make better players of the likes of Wes Brown and Seb Larrsson. Bradford have been warned what t expect tomorrow. H/T to The Mirror