Lee Johnson praised 'brilliant' debutant Danny Batth after he helped Sunderland earn a hard-fought victory over Portsmouth at the Stadium of Light.
Centre-back Batth joined the Black Cats from Stoke City in midweek, and he made an immediate impact as Sunderland kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 win against Pompey that saw them move back into the automatic promotion slots.
Johnson said Batth added extra physicality to his side, which is a quality they had lacked at times in the first half of the campaign.
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"It was a very hard-earned win," said Johnson.
"You can see that the pitch is not conducive to playing tiki-taka football, and it demonstrates the reasoning behind bringing in the likes of Danny Batth and I thought we were extremely solid today.
"We need to win all types of games and that is something I recognised early on in the season but I don't think we addressed it early enough.
"The signing of Danny has certainly addressed that and has given us that dominant first-ball winner.
"I thought he was brilliant. He has that physicality and he takes the emphasis of Flanno [Tom Flanagan] having to be physical and the dominant one.
"He's not just a brute. You saw today that he can play.
"There's not much to criticise in his performance today.
I know he has played for Stoke but he hasn't been a regular, so you saw his professionalism there to be able to churn out a 90 minute performance with ease.
"In possession he was good, he played a couple of good long deliveries and we had to lift the ball over the press and the pitch.
"We are going to have to adapt at home and play differently.
"The challenge for us is: can we win a game of football no matter whose terms it is on? Whether that's a physical battle, whether it's a technical battle, or tactical and physical as it was today."
Johnson switched to playing three central defenders to match up with Portsmouth, and it was a change that worked.
He said: "It's horses for courses and we have to select the right team for the right game.
"It was a risk today and I spent a lot of time last week deciding whether to play three at the back or four.
"I felt that it was the best way to give the team and a new player clarity to go toe-to-toe with them.
"It played to his strengths today.
"Whether we carry on with a back three going forward, when you've got [Aiden] McGeady back, [Leon] Dajaku, Patrick Roberts, Elliot Embleton, Alex Pritchard, is another question."
Portsmouth had the better of the opening half-hour but were unable to capitalise, and Sunderland gradually took control with Elliot Embleton scoring the decisive goal just before half-time.
"We had two or three chances, but it definitely wasn't a classic," admitted Johnson.
"When you look at how many saves that Hoff [goalkeeper Thorben Hoffmann] has had to make, I can't think of one of any note.
"It was well-fought after the first 25 minutes, when I thought they were the better side because we weren't quite composed enough in midfield and we didn't get runners down the side.
"I think it changed from a Corry Evans tackle, and for the next 20 minutes we pressed better, we hustled better, we had two or three chances where we caught them on the ball, we slid balls down the sides, won wide free-kicks, and got our goal at a good time.
"The second half was a difficult balance between trying to attack but also making sure we were extremely solid.
"In the second half we didn't flood the box as we normally do, and maybe that was down to a bit of anxiety if I'm hones, and trying to protect the result.
"The most important thing today, without a shadow of a doubt, was those three points."
Sunderland were without defender Bailey Wright and midfielder Alex Pritchard against Pompey, with Johnson explaining that both were absent due to injuries.
"They missed out with calf strains," he said.
"It was a grade three for Bailey, and a grade two for Pritch.
"They won't be out for too long, and the good thing is that our games are spread out so they won't be missing too many games."
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