Phil Parkinson reacts to MK Dons defeat and delivers verdict on what went wrong for Sunderland

Phil Parkinson criticised his side’s defending after a woeful start to the second half cost them dearly against MK Dons.
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After a poor first half in which the Black Cats gave up an early advantage, the visitors took the lead when a series of errors led to Max Power fouling Scott Fraser in the box.

Fraser stepped up to convert the winner, and Parkinson again bemoaned his side’s ability to convert chances.

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After a woeful first hour, Will Grigg missed a gilt-edged opening to level the scores.

Cameron Jerome levels the scores at the Stadium of LightCameron Jerome levels the scores at the Stadium of Light
Cameron Jerome levels the scores at the Stadium of Light

After the game, it was put to Parkinson whether he felt his side’s performance had been acceptable.

“The second goal, comes straight from our kick off and really costs us,” Parkinson said.

“There are three errors in the build up to the actual foul, and that's unacceptable.

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“In terms of chances in and around the six-yard box, it's unacceptable that we haven't taken them and I think that's fair.

“You don't get gilt-edged moments like we've had and we've been having over a period of time, and expect to be at the top if you don't take them.

“There are four or five moments today where we needed that composure to get us the goal near the six-yard box, and I'd say it's unacceptable we haven't turned those into goals.”

Parkinson was asked how he reflected on the opening stages of the game, when his side had struggled to gain control of midfield and match the fluid play of Russell Martin’s side.

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“I felt in the first period of the first half we made a lot of mistakes with the ball,” he said.

"We got better as the half went on but I felt we were still a bit anxious. as the half went on we got a lot better.

“It's a two-fold thing, I want us to press but also play with a calmness in possession.

“At the start of the game we didn’t get that right but we still had very good moments within that.”

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With Tom Flanagan and Conor McLaughlin absent on international duty, Luke O’Nien again moved into the left of defence.

Lynden Gooch was moved back to wing-back, but Sunderland’s shape was often hard to discern as he pushed up the pitch.

The confusion was heightened by the visitors, who found spaces to break throughout the opening hour.

Parkinson explained that his reshuffle had been to try and catch out MK Dons, and did not feel that was a reason for defeat.

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“We knew that MK Dons wanted to play out the back, and they often start with Richard Keogh,” he said.

“We wanted to push Josh Scowen onto their deep-lying playmaker, and Lynden Gooch onto Dean Lewington.

“Then that pushes Jordan onto the wing-back to force them down that side when they had the ball, and to be fair, that was fine. We knew we had to press them high and the majority of the time, we did that.

“The first fifteen, twenty minutes our quality on the ball wasn't quite there, we've had a lot of lads who've missed a lot of training recently.

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“As the half went on we got better in terms of our football.”

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