Elliott Dickman has challenged his players to perform at a more consistent level ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League 2 match against Leicester City.
The young Black Cats host the Foxes at the Stadium of Light, kick-off at 12pm, with season card holders able to gain access for free from 11am.
Jan Kirchhoff returned to action last Monday, but not even the German’s involvement could inspire Dickman’s troops to record their first league win in 2017.
As a result that has left the Lads without a win in six domestic matches, their last three points coming at Southampton in December 2016.
Following the turn of the year, however, Dickman’s side have secured a European semi-final berth as well as advanced to the Premier League Cup last 16, and now the under-23s lead coach has tasked his players with a run of form in their domestic fixtures.
“With the ball the lads can handle it because they can play,” he said.
“That is probably the easy part if I’m honest because the hard part is to get them to understand the importance of what they do without the ball.
“Some of the lads do it quite naturally, there are one or two who are really good at it and that is great but we need more of the lads doing it.
“It is a team game and an important part of their development needs to be that they do improve on that.”
He continued: “It is a big area, a key one, and it is something we are looking to work on.”
