Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe has praised Sam Allardyce and his staff for their preparation of the team in the lead up to games.
Firstly, the England international striker, who has 55 caps for his country, says that the new manager is keen to keep his messages to the players fairly simple and he is careful not to heap too much information on the players.
Speaking to The Sunderland Echo, Defoe said:
Even before games, he gets things across really simply – ‘this is what it will take to win the game’.
The 33-year-old, who scored in Sunderland’s 6-2 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park at the weekend also praised the strength and conditioning work that the team have been doing and said that he is already feeling the benefits of it.
The last two games are probably the fittest I’ve felt in a long time and I think that’s due to the training which we’re doing.
I’m sure he’s done that at other clubs, with the intensity and the things we do in the gym.
Furthermore, Defoe, who joined Sunderland from MLS side Toronto FC in January of this year, pointed out how he finds the work in training to be very beneficial as it is based more around actual match situations rather than small sided games etc.
We do a lot of 11 v 11’s, so everything is match related. Leading up to the game, you know exactly what you’ve got to do. Under some managers, you just do small games, 5-a-sides, and you can’t really do what you’re going to do on a Saturday. Like me, I can’t make runs in behind.
