One of the players who performed the best at the end of last season was Sebastian Coates under Dick Advocaat as he helped secure top-flight safety with some heroic performances at the heart of our defence.
However, Advocaat has singled out Coates in a recent interview and demanded him to show more aggression as he lines up to face Manchester City tonight in the league cup at The Stadium of Light.
Coates, who has had a very poor start to the season with Sunderland leaking goals as they remain rooted to the bottom of the league, will be hopeful his form will improve as he comes in to cover the suspended Younes Kaboul.
Coates and John O’Shea should be the starting centre-halves tonight, but Advocaat has said he demands more from the former Liverpool defender.
Advocaat said: “Coates did really well in the last six games of last season.
“But I told him yesterday that he needs to be sharper.
“He is a little bit shy and that’s not possible.
“We saw against Bournemouth that he became better as the game went on, but what was he doing at the start?”
Coates couldn’t have asked for a trickier tie to try and win over some dubious fans and his own manger’s critique as he lines up against Manchester City. He needs to focus on the game at hand and try to install the same confidence he showed when he was blocking challenges and winning crucial points at the end of last season.
