'Not really...' - Graeme Murty delivers brutal verdict after Sunderland U21s' 3-2 loss against Manchester City

Sunderland under-21 lead coach Graeme Murty was left annoyed by his side’s performance against Manchester City in the Premier League 2 over the weekend.

Murty’s youngsters twice squandered the lead against City at Hetton on Saturday to lose the game 3-2 after goals from Trey Ogunsyui and Harrison Jones.

“Disappointing,” Murty said when asked for his opinion on the game by The Echo. “We got ourselves in a really good position in the game. After suffering a bit in the first half, we addressed a few things at half-time. They came out; they were far better in the second half. Got on the front foot a lot more. Got ourselves in a good position and then squandered it. So I think it's one that we feel has let out of our grasp, and we've loosened our grip off, and good teams take advantage of that.”

Asked if he was pleased with some elements of Sunderland’s performance against Manchester City, Murty said: “Not really. We know we've got flashes of quality. It's more about an intent and a mindset thing. When I look back on it, I probably will be.

“There'll be bits in there that were really good and bits of bravery and possession where we managed to play through. I've just asked them the question in there when we actually were brave and got on the ball and played our stuff, where did we ultimately lose possession? We tended to lose possession in their final third or in their penalty area.

“When we weren't and we were a bit passive and we lacked a bit of belief, we ended up losing the ball in our final third because we went backwards too often and we were far too negative. So whilst we did show some nice bits, the intent to hurt our opponent and the intent to actually play in our style needs to be far more prevalent.”

Manchester City were able to hold onto the win despite some late Sunderland pressure, leaving the Black Cats 13th with 13 points in the Premier League 2. City are now three points ahead of Fulham at the top of the league, having played a game more than their closest rivals.

Sunderland qualified for the Premier League 2 play-offs last season, advancing all the way to the final where Murty’s side lost against Tottenham in London after a magnificent run in the developmental competition.

“We're more than capable. We've shown it before,” Murty added after the Man City loss. “We've shown it today. They have good individuals. They've got a good style.They've got massive resources. But when we stepped onto the front foot, we made them really uncomfortable and they played a little bit more direct.

“They turned the ball over a lot and we didn't capitalise.So for some reason, we dropped our intent to go and press. We dropped our level of actually engaging our opponent. And then we let them off the hook, which is really, really disappointing.”