Coventry boss delivers Sunderland verdict on Tony Mowbray sacking and what he's expecting from Michael Beale

Coventry boss Mark Robins says he felt for Tony Mowbray when he was sacked by Sunderland earlier this month.

Mowbray was replaced at the Stadium of Light by former Rangers and QPR boss Michael Beale, who will take charge of his first fixture on Wearside against Coventry this weekend.

The Sky Blues, who reached the play-off final last season, sit 15th in the Championship following back-to-back draws against Southampton and Leeds. When asked about how his side are shaping up ahead of their trip to Sunderland, Robins said: “I think we're just getting some confidence from results. We're getting confidence from performances and obviously executing game plans brilliantly and they deserve an enormous amount of credit for what they're doing and hopefully that continues and I'm sure it will continue.

“We have another big game coming against Sunderland, who are a really good football team. I felt for Tony, because I think he'd done a great job there, but they felt that they wanted to make a change. So, Michael Beale comes in and it's his first game tomorrow, so there’s all of those things around the game and also you'd expect it to be pretty near full house.”

In his first press conference as Sunderland's new head coach, Beale praised Mowbray's spell on Wearside, after guiding Sunderland into the play-offs last season. When asked about how the Black Cats could set up under Beale, Robins replied: “I think that we can sort of have an understanding of how his teams play and how he wants them to play. He's got a different group of players and he's going to be working with them this week, and it’s how much work he can get into them and to change what he wants to change or to enhance what he wants to do and that will be determined by how much work he's done and how much he feels that he needs to change it.

“I know he's spoken about his methods and what he wants to do but he has also spoken about how he doesn't really want to change too much away from what Tony had been doing because he respects Tony and that's clear that Tony was having some real success with them. They got into the play-offs last season and I’m sure that will be a minimum aim for them again.

“So, Michael has come in, really to a team that's been playing pretty good football with a lot of talented footballers in their ranks, and they do things in a in a certain way and I'm sure that he will change some bits and pieces, but you won't know until you see that tomorrow. They're a really good team. They're an attacking team. They've got some really good attacking players and they’ve got some good quality and I think it will be a really good game.”