Luke O’Nien delivers Sunderland dressing room verdict after heavy Blackburn defeat

Sunderland captain Luke O’Nien reacts to the team’s 5-1 defeat over Blackburn at the Stadium of Light.
Sunderland captain Luke O’Nien feels the players must accept responsibility following their 5-1 defeat to Blackburn at the Stadium of Light.

Interim manager Mike Dodds blasted the performance as ‘absolutely unacceptable,’ with Rovers forward Sammie Szmodics scoring twice in the opening half. Blackburn then put the game beyond question after the break, with Ryan Hedges and Tyhys Dolen scoring within nine minutes of the restart. Chris Rigg equalized for the hosts, but Blackburn replacement Andrew Moran made it 5-1 with nine minutes remaining.

 

 

“I had to have a little bit of time after the game to decompress a little bit, emotions, anger, a lot of emotions were there at the end of it,” O’Nien told reporters after the game. “People may say it is one to forget, but I believe it is far from that. I believe it’s one to remember, one to utilize, and one to inspire. One that will never happen again.

“We have to dissect that; it was chalk and cheese throughout the weekend. We will learn a lot from such a poor performance.

“There’s just the first disappointment and embarrassment of letting ourselves and Doddsy down. He gave us all the knowledge we needed and told us not to do the non-negotiables, such as running harder and not looking after the ball. If you don’t do it in any game, we’ll have no chance. I know he will bear the brunt of it, but as players, including myself, we must take responsibility.”