Lee Johnson gives detailed insight on defending leads, his substitution calls and where Sunderland can improve

Lee Johnson' s side have started comfortably above the two-points-per-game metric thus far, while blooding some exciting young players and overhauling the playing philosophy.

With a number of players pushing their claims in the 2-0 Carabao Cup win against Wigan Athletic earlier this week, the mood is optimistic.

If there has been one frustration, it has been the lapses that turned a two-goal lead into a disappointing draw in the final ten minutes at Fleetwood Town.

That drew attention from some supporters to Johnson's regular decision to introduce an extra centre-half when preserving a lead, one that had up until this point proved successful.

The head coach is aware of the criticism of that call, and on Friday afternoon explained the reasons behind it.

He also asserted that the issues at Highbury were more about psychology than tactics.

It was an issue addressed quickly after the game and Johnson felt the way his side dealt with a similar situation at Wigan Athletic days later, albeit in a less pressurised environment, showed the way forward.

"There's a huge amount of detail goes into those decisions," he explained.

"I think you're always damned if you do, damned if you don't when you change formation, particularly when you're trying to see a game out.

"For me, the Fleetwood result was not about us having put an extra centre half on. What we do often want is a plus one rule at the back, so for example if the opposition have a front two, we might bring a full back round so we have an extra player.

"If we're 1-0 down, we might go one for one.

"I saw some of the opinion after the Fleetwood game and I think, at 1-0 up we brought Nathan Broadhead on to give us that outlet up front.

"It was about psychology. The last ten minutes of that game we gave the ball away 23 times.

"I'll give you examples. Lynden Gooch crosses it into the goalkeeper, we had one where Dennis Cirkin smashed the ball up in the air because of that anxiety. We had one that rolled under Aiden McGeady's foot, and we had Ross Stewart giving away two fouls.

"If you then fast forward to Wigan, 2-0 up with ten to play, we then held the ball for two minutes, 15 seconds at one stage," he added.

"That was because we'd worked on the psychology of not panicking, not being erratic. Because when you do that, you are inviting the onslaught.

"But we are looking for that plus one at the back. You can do that in a number of ways, whether it's a holding midfielder sitting in, another centre back, or the full back tucking in and giving the wide player a slightly different job.

"So there's a number of factors go into these decisions and it's not fear, I can assure you of that. It's managing the game and we're such a high-press team, and we will tire.

"That's why I was so upset with the first goal at Fleetwood to let them back in, because that was poor defending."

Key to seeing out the game, Johnson says, is ensuring his side don't panic in possession, particularly in their own half.

The philosophy is designed to aid recovery when Sunderland attempt high-risk moves in the opposition half, but the head coach is determined to ensure they don't put themselves under unnecessary pressure.

"It's not about giving the ball away, it's about how you do it," he explained.

"If you're smashing the ball away under little pressure in your own half, that for me is a poor giveaway.

"If you're trying to unlock the door in the final third and the opposition intercepts, then that's OK because we're built to recover from that.

"That's about having numbers near the ball so when you're trying to execute that high-risk pass for high reward. But if the spacing is good and the mentality is good, you should be able to win it back quickly.

"We pay a lot of attention to PPDA (pass-per-defensive action) and if you look at the Wigan game, we were winning the ball back within three or four passes. In the last ten minutes we were keeping it for sixteen or seventeen passes in the last ten minutes. That's control and that's what we've got to bring to league games.

"I spoke to the players about it after the Fleetwood game.

"I was as frustrated as anyone else and it does hurt, particularly when you feel you probably don't deserve it.

"We've got to be honest with ourselves and accountable. We talk about the brand of football we want to play and we're trying to build it.

"So we said to the players, let's play our way, it will go wrong at times, but let's not do things in games we wouldn't do in training.

"We're also trying to take the pressure off them by saying, that's then on us as a coaching staff [if it goes wrong].

"Hopefully over 46 games, with the quality we've got you'll see less and less of that anxiety that can come on.

“It can be a strange dynamic when you're defending that one-goal lead late on.

"Every player is different and normally you'll see players revert to type. Defenders will want it away from goal, midfielders will want it off the toes, strikers want to score and kill it off. That can lead to things getting a bit discombobulated."

Johnson is expecting an open, entertaining game against Bolton Wanderers, who have made a fine start to life back in League One.

Gaining a lead will not be easy, and he will be keen to see improvements late on if they manage it.

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