Dick Advocaat has admitted he would have left the dug-out and confronted Sunderland’s flops ON the pitch over their disgraceful performance if he had been their manager last week.
The Dutch coach warned his tough-guy, ruthless approach will soon kick in unless the relegation-threatened squad follow his instructions.
Advocaat revealed he was first lined up for the job three weeks ago, in a phone call from Frank Arnesen, who had been consulted by Sunderland’s director of football Lee Congerton.
He scouted Sunderland 's games and watched live on TV as they collapsed 4-0 down to Aston Villa by half-time last week, in preparation for getting the job.
His reaction to the performance that finished Gus Poyet 's reign?
“I have told the players - ‘If I was beside the line, I would have been on the pitch!’ That means that something is wrong.
“When Villa scored, you could see that something is going wrong in their [the Sunderland players’] heads.
Sunderland 0-4 Aston Villa in pictures
"When Aston Villa scored their fourth goal , five [Sunderland] players were standing still. When they lost the ball up front, the ball went, and five players were walking back instead of running back. It is not possible.”
Advocaat conceded the first job in his nine game rescue mission is to restore a team ethic and some fighting spirit.
He said: “I always say to players, ‘Listen, if you do what I want I am a really friendly man - if not, then I am not so nice’. It is that simple.”
Asked if the first thing that needed changing was in their heads, Advocaat, 67 , replied: “Yes.”
He added: “It is important that we do not play as individuals. We have to play as a unit and as a team, with the ball and without it. We have to improve that. That is the most important thing.
“If we start playing again as a team, with everyone fighting for each other, then I am not afraid of the results because they will come. We have enough quality. You can’t think, ‘Okay, we have lost the ball, we can walk.’”
In an echo of a problem Poyet tried and failed to solve, Advocaat observed: “I am a coach who likes to control games, to have the ball. What I have seen from the majority of the games is that Sunderland are running without the ball, I like it the other way round.”
Advocaat refused to confirm he would like to take the job beyond his emergency role.
He has never been relegated in 30 years as a boss and said: “I always have the feeling that I will never go down.
“I have been close, but that was when I was a very young manager. I started at SVV when I was 36 and we were champions in one of the lower leagues. We had a difficult season the following year, but we survived in the last game.”
The last time a boss approaching his 70s took a job in the North East it was Sir Bobby Robson.
“He did well, didn’t he?” joked Advocaat. “I am relishing this. That’s also because of my experience. That’s why it’s better to take an older one than a younger one!”
How the bottom of the table stands
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | |
| Hull | 29 | 6 | 10 | 13 | 26 | 37 | -11 | 28 |
| Aston Villa | 29 | 7 | 7 | 15 | 19 | 38 | -19 | 28 |
| Sunderland | 29 | 4 | 14 | 11 | 23 | 43 | -20 | 26 |
| Burnley | 29 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 26 | 47 | -21 | 25 |
| QPR | 29 | 6 | 4 | 19 | 30 | 52 | -22 | 22 |
| Leicester | 28 | 4 | 7 | 17 | 24 | 44 | -20 | 19 |
First up, is a visit to West Ham on Saturday before the Tyne-Wear donkey derby in a fortnight.
Adam Johnson is likely to be in the squad despite being on police bail after his arrest accused of sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl.
Advocaat added: “I know a lot about West Ham . They are an aggressive team. They haven’t done well in the last couple of games but before that they were great.
“The good thing I have found is that you can see the players want to prove themselves to the new manager, and that is always a good sign.”
He is sure the thousands who walked out of the Stadium of Light before the end last week can be won back, adding: “If the fans feel the team are working like crazy, they will come.”
