Patrick Roberts sends ‘incredible’ message to Sunderland teammates ahead of Millwall, fans will love it

Sunderland’s players accept responsibility for the two dismal defeats at Plymouth and Huddersfield, according to Patrick Roberts, and are eager to get back on track when the Black Cats go to Millwall tomorrow.

Sunderland have dropped out of the top six and into 11th place in the Championship table after two consecutive defeats, with the Huddersfield defeat particularly distressing given the Terriers’ poor form before to their Wearside trip.

Tony Mowbray’s squad is extremely young and inexperienced, but Roberts argues it cannot be used as an excuse.

“I think we have to take responsibility as a team, the manager will take his responsibility and we’ll take responsibility as players and take accountability that we’ve not been good enough,” said the winger.

“It’s something we have to sort out, myself included, and produce on the pitch. Everyone needs to dig in now, recover and go again at the weekend.

“We have quite a lot of the squad under the age of 23. Even I class myself as quite young and I’m 26, nearly 27.

“It’s hard but at the same time we’re a big club and there are those expectations on you, no matter your age you should be going out there wanting to impress and wanting to show you are a good player and win for this team.”

 

 

Huddersfield lined up to stifle on Wednesday night, and while Roberts agrees it’s easier for Sunderland to play against clubs that want to go toe-to-toe rather than frustrate, he says it’s something the Black Cats must cope with and overcome if they are to repeat their top-six result from last season.

“You have so many men behind the ball there is only so much you can do and sometimes it’s really hard to break them down and that’s what they’ve come here to do,” he says.

“Teams come here to do that and we have to find ways if we want to be up there right at the end. We have to find ways of breaking down defences like that . We have to look at it, learn from it and take it into the next game.

“It can be a bit easier against other teams but then they also have the quality so if you are not putting it away then you have to be solid at the back as they can damage. We have to be a team that a lot of teams fear and show that we can score goals and keep them out as well.

“All aspects need to come together as a team and we’ll work on that together. We win together and lose together. We can only learn.”