Graeme Murty refuses to 'cane' Sunderland's youngsters after PL Cup exit against Burnley

Sunderland under-21s lead coach Graeme Murty says he wants more from his young side but has refused to throw his players under the bus following Monday night’s defeat.

The Black Cats were defeated by a single goal away to Burnley in the PL Cup, therefore missing out on a spot in the last eight of the competition. Sunderland also recently failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the PL International Cup by a single point, having performed admirably during the group stages.

However, while disappointed to lose against Burnley in challenging conditions, Murty explained that he wouldn’t “cane” his players for their battling performance but also added that he wanted to see more from his side heading into the final matches in the Premier League 2 competition.

“Very,” Murty said when asked if he was disappointed with the result. “I thought we did more than enough to win the game. We had more than enough chances, dominated possession and dominated territory, and we didn't work their goalkeeper enough. So the title of the story is that we were really, really good at times, we moved the ball really nicely, we created good opportunities, and we didn't have enough of a cutting edge to really punish them, although we created some really good opportunities.”

“I think a little bit of bravery in the final third, a little bit of a cutting edge, and the goal we conceded is a really poor one,” Murty said when asked what had gone wrong against Burnley. “So a little bit of ownership from the players to understand when the game is difficult, on a difficult pitch, that we manage the conditions, we take a little bit more responsibility and care with the ball, but when they did, I thought we cut through our opponents really well.

“We shifted the ball nicely, we made them just shift into a defensive posture the entire game, and we had to re-defend against counter-attacks, so we did that, but then we needed to move the ball faster and be much more incisive in the final third. When we did that, we created really nice opportunities, we just weren't able to take the chance.”

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Sunderland took a young squad to Burnley with experienced under-21s player Harrison Jones, who is with Régis Le Bris’ first team, and the injured Trey Ogunsuyi, both missing as Murty’s men attempted to reach the last eight of the PL Cup.

“They work their socks off. I've just said to them,” Murty added. “I can't fault their effort. I'm not going to go in there and cane them. I'm going to challenge them that they need to be better in the final third. I need to see a bigger differentiation between our older members and the younger ones. So the younger ones you expect to be a little bit naive. We then expect the older members to take ownership of the game, and our structure and our tempo.

“It happened at times, but it needs to happen more consistently. It's a really good learning curve for the players, that when you come to a difficult area, the pitch is really difficult, really bobbly, that they have to be cleaner and smoother. Because I thought too often we allowed transitional moments to go on for too long, the ball was bobbling around. We didn't take care of it and calm it quickly enough. We didn't get it out of that transitional area quickly enough, consistently. Because when we did, it really showed a good opportunity.

“When we got to the final third, we created three or four, five even, opportunities where we need to score, and we haven't worked the goalie. In the first five seconds, which we've won a lot. But that's the tale of the game, and that's a really good lesson for our young players. When you don't take chances, they're going to leave you vulnerable.”

“More,” Murty said when asked what he wanted to see from Sunderland under-21s for the remainder of the season. “I want to see more. A more consistent application of our good principles. More quality on the ball. Braver decision-making and risk-taking in the final third. And we need to start punishing teams. It's really interesting that we've gone through a bit of a sticky patch in front of the goal after we scored seven.

“So we need to actually get back to realising what we do well, how we're going to go and function. And then we need to take our chances. So a big emphasis this week on understanding where the spaces were and how we go about converting those spaces into really, really high-quality chances. But I thought we lacked a little bit of composure in front of the goal, so that will be a real emphasis for us going into Leeds.”