Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray has encouraged his players to be brave in the face of a well-coached Leicester City side with “devastating individuals”.
The Black Cats arrive at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday night on the back of two defeats but still sitting sixth in the division. And even though they are taking on a City side looking to become the first second-tier side to win 12 of their first 13 games since 1905, he wants his team to be on the front foot.
He does not want to defend wave after wave of attacks, which he knows is something that City can produce. Mowbray said: “We have to be brave, we have to believe in the talent we have on the pitch, we have to get the ball to them and let them do what they do.
“When I look at Leicester, they’ve got some devastating individuals who can damage your team really badly. We have to be mindful of them and try to play our game.
“We have to have a percentage of the ball that puts them on the back foot and makes them run back towards their own goal, rather than defend wave after wave. Certainly in some games I’ve watched them play, it’s what they do, there’s wave after wave of attacks and eventually they break you down. A lot of that is credit to the coach.”
“When I watch them, they are obviously well coached,” he said. “You have to give the coach a lot of credit for the way he’s managed to create the team.
“They play very much like we play, how they build, from a four to a three. They’re a well-coached football team. He’s spent some time with Manchester City and Pep (Guardiola) and that’s very obvious from watching his team play, how they play very positional football. They’re dangerous. Good players playing positional football is very difficult to deal with.”
