DICK ADVOCAAT would have liked things to have been a little smoother but, after taking the dramatic u-turn to stay as Sunderland head coach for a further 12 months, he wanted new signings and he has got them.

While the experienced Dutchman would have liked all of his new recruits on board for the entire pre-season, he has got his squad somewhere near to where he wanted with the deals already concluded and those in the pipeline.

From pretty early this summer he had worked out a preferred system, which has effectively been a 4-3-3, and that has led to sporting directors Lee Congerton working on targets to suit that formation.

But Advocaat is willing to change as the season goes along. He proved during his nine games in charge last season that his methods are suited to the Premier League, but now it is hoped a full pre-season can see Sunderland kick on and avoid a further year of struggle.

“As a manager it is important you show the players that you have confidence in them and that you have a confidence in the way they play to get the points we need,” said Advocaat, the former PSV boss. “They felt that last season and I can sense that in training this time. What happened last season has given a few a real boost. Hopefully we can build on that.

“It’s difficult to say what we can achieve this season because we have seen how strong this league is. You can’t really say ‘we will do this’ because we know how hard it will be.

“It is also difficult to say what system we will play. It depends on what players we get in and are available. Some players are suited to the system we played, but others look better in a 4-4-2. That’s the good thing about pre-season, we get to find out.”

Tending to operate with Jack Rodwell, Lee Cattermole and Seb Larsson in a three-man central midfield suggests the direction Advocaat is heading ahead of the opening game at Leicester City. He is not the type to stick to his guns, though, and will be open to change if things aren’t working.

The system he adopts will clearly be important, but Advocaat also knows the level of recruitment this summer was crucial too. Sunderland are still looking for further additions, but he has already added the sort of numbers he felt was required. Any extras are a bonus.

“We needed more competition in the squad,” said Advocaat. “We’ve got new players and when we started the summer we felt we needed five or six. But we would have been happy with three extra players - that would have made everything a little bit easier anyway. “

Now it’s about making them gel. He said: “We didn’t create a lot of chances last season and didn’t score a lot of goals, but the service to the strikers was poor. We have worked on improving that. We are not Man United, Man City and don’t have unlimited money, so we have had to be very careful with the players we bring in.”