- Positives in the defeat to Leicester City despite five defeats on the bounce
- Chris Rigg's solid first start in red and white
- Dan Ballard penalty incident and Luke O'Nien
Here's every word from the Black Cats interim head coach following the defeat to Leicester City.
You spoke about being positive, there was plenty in the second-half to suggest things are starting to turn for you?
Yeah, I'm really conscious about answering the question because that's five on the bounce now and we have to buck that trend as soon as possible. But I do feel the second-half in particular, and I said this in my last spell around what is a Sunderland team, I think we gave a snapshot in the second-half in terms of a blueprint to how we want to play, how I want to play and how the players want to play. I think the frustrating bit is the first 15 minutes and listen, I've got to give Leicester credit because I thought in that first 15 they moved the ball so quickly.
READ MORE: Sunderland cause Leicester late scare but slip to fifth defeat
But once the game settled down - the unfortunate bit is they scored in that spell - once the game settled down, I felt we started to get a level of control. For 30 minutes in the second-half the game was even. I didn't think there was much in the game. I thought second-half we were just sensational. I don't want to be that stats guy, I don't want to start throwing stats at people because I know that can be irritating and can be manipulated, but one of the guys just said there, their xG in the second-half was 0.01.
Which, I think if you went through the whole of the EFL there wouldn't be many games where the opposition gets nullified that well and we're talking about the best team in the league as well. There's loads of positives. I keep saying this, the group are in a good spot, but we're also really aware we have to buck this trend. I do feel one win is just going to go into two wins and three wins and four wins. At the moment, it's just not falling for us.
I've had them now for three games and all three games have got 'L's' by the result which I'm conscious of but at the same time I feel like each game we've got better and better. I'm going to take loads of positives from that.
Did it flash through your mind when Vardy scored of a repeat of Leicester earlier in the year?
I think we were better than we played them earlier in the season I'll be honest with you. I just couldn't see them scoring second-half, I couldn't see them getting out. We nullified all the things that they're really good at. As I said, at the moment things aren't quite falling for us. I felt we looked more of a threat although we've still got to do more. I will never use and I've said this in answer to questions - the age thing is what it is - but you've got two scholars on the pitch who should be playing youth team football. The average age I think was 21.6. To go toe-to-toe with a Premier League team in waiting, I think it should give everyone a huge amount of encouragement.
A huge lift for Chris Rigg?
I really liked his performance. I felt he was really selfless in terms of the out of possession stuff. They tweaked one or two things which we didn't expect. I felt Riggy adapted to it really well. I'll be honest the plan was to get an hour out of him. I knew he'd go to the well. I knew he would give us absolutely everything which is why I knew it would be a good game for him, because we needed everyone to empty the tank. I just felt in the second-half he was so effective, I left him on for as long as I possibly could. Taking in to account he's a first-year scholar. People should be excited by Riggy. I'm excited to work with him over the next few years. I think he's potentially a wonderful talent.
Penalty or no penalty?
I haven't seen it back. Dan is adamant it's a penalty. I think my initial gut [feeling] is why would he go down? I'm one of those guys, it's gone. The lads are frustrated by it but I can't effect it now. The reality is now I've got to concentrate on the next game. That's the way my mind operates. I don't get overly caught up in those decisions. If it was a penalty we're going to be frustrated. The reality is there's nothing we can do about it.
Luke O'Nien's tenth yellow card so he's now missing two games?
Yeah, I feel like I can't catch a break at the moment I'll be honest with you. Coming in and having Ballard - as he grew into the game I thought he was outstanding - we're going to miss Luke and obviously we've got some injuries to some key players. I feel like I can't catch a break at the moment. These things are sent to test us and it's a really good challenge for me. I've got to try and find a way of turning these defeats into wins. We're going to be working really hard to do that.
I just want to make a mention of Adil. I thought he was excellent when he came on. I was asked about Adil in the presser in the week and we've got him in a good spot in terms of his concentration and I've said to him there 'You've got to stay on this path now, you can't come away from this direction you're going.' I was really happy with Adil and the impact he made coming off the bench.
Difficult situation for fans at the moment, they'll see the quality in the performance but it's five defeats. What would you say to them?
I would say, I don't think that is a team in particular, for an hour, that's given up hope of achieving what we want to achieve. Obviously fans will have their opinion on that, the pundits and whoever else that's fine. I think we've got to appreciate how good that second-half performance was against the best team in the league. I felt we - I wouldn't say made them look ordinary but if you were a complete neutral and you didn't know who the two teams were, I think you'd be picking Sunderland in the second-half as the team that is near the top of the table.
I do genuinely feel that each game that I've worked with them and I appreciate the first game didn't go particularly well, but each game I've worked with them we've got better, and better, and better. I do feel the group are in an okay spot. They are human. They've lost five on the bounce, they're not machines and they're aware of that. But I do feel that we're one win away from putting a number of wins together.
We've got to stick together, that would be my message. I think the players have shown they're together. I'm completely on board with them, I think they're completely on board with me. The performance today would suggest that they are and we've got to give the fans something to go home happy about. Unfortunately the result wasn't the result we wanted but the performance would show that there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
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Lots of encouragement but you're now closer to the bottom three than the top-six. What can you get out of this season and is it a worry the bottom three is close now?
Not for me no. I think if you asked the players it wouldn't be a worry. Let's be brutally honest if we perform like that week in, week out we'll roll over most teams. I think what they've done is set a really high bar and they've shown they can perform to that level. That's something that hasn't even come into my mind in terms of closer to one end of the table to the other because I work with them every day and I know the quality that I've got in that dressing room.
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