Robin Roefs reveals Sunderland dressing room demands and makes honest admission after Bournemouth defeat
Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs has called for honesty within the Black Cats dressing room following another disappointing Premier League result
Robin Roefs believes Sunderland's players must be honest with each other and take collective responsibility for their difficult start to the Premier League season following Sunday's defeat to Bournemouth.
The Dutchman was one of Sunderland's better performers but refused to accept individual praise after another frustrating afternoon, insisting nobody in the squad could be satisfied with their contribution.
Roefs also admitted Sunderland had already thrown away valuable points this season, singling out the opening-day defeat against Ipswich Town as a result that should never have happened. Asked what needed to change and what message he would send to concerned supporters, Roefs stressed the importance of hard work and honesty within the dressing room.
"We need to put the work in every day and not just today to make sure we turn this around and be honest with each other," he said. Also keep the spirits up."
The 23-year-old was subsequently asked about his own performance, having produced another encouraging individual display despite Sunderland's collective struggles.
"Well, obviously I don't care about this. It's just a team," Roefs replied. “I don't think anyone today can walk off the pitch and say I was amazing today. It's just a team effort. It's not about me. It's not about our right-back, our left winger having a good game. It's about the team. We all know this. We just need to step it up and make sure next week we turn it around."
Sunderland have endured a difficult opening to the campaign after last season's remarkable seventh-place finish, which secured European qualification for the first time in more than five decades. However, Roefs believes there is little value in becoming overly concerned with the Premier League table at such an early stage, even if he acknowledged that Sunderland had already been responsible for some of their own problems.
"Obviously we didn't have the most easy games but we just gave away too many points against Ipswich, which we should have never lost," he explained. At the end, we're just six or seven games in, so we shouldn't look to the table too much. It's about the last game where we are at. Last season we had a flying start and we went out so good. After that we struggled a little bit so it's all going in swings. Obviously it's clear that we didn't start as we wanted and it's up to us to really put our heads together and step it up."
Roefs also acknowledged that expectations had inevitably increased following Sunderland's success last season, although he insisted the players had always anticipated a more demanding campaign.
"Obviously last season we've been so good and everyone in the team has been so good and with that expectations start to rise and start to come," he added. But we knew this season was going to be different."
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Sunderland now face the challenge of responding to their disappointing domestic form while balancing the additional demands of European football, with Lech Poznan away and Leeds at home to come this week.