Sunderland fell to a third defeat in a row against Blackburn Rovers

Régis Le Bris has made clear that he is prioritising fitness ahead of next month's play-offs and to that end, he will have taken many positives from this.

A number of players got valuable minutes under their belts, others an equally valuable rest. There was some decent individual performers with Harrison Jones in particular catching the eye. Sunderland dominated the ball and played some good stuff at times. It was a harsh defeat. And yet. Sunderland have lost three games in a row and mustered just two shots on target. You could understand the feeling of flatness around the Stadium of Light at the end of the game and the danger is the feelgood factor from this season just threatens to ebb. It was an afternoon that summed up what Le Bris has called a 'weird' period.

Le Bris has said repeatedly that he understands that this has been a challenging period for fans as he rotates his side ahead of the play-offs next month, and so he will appreciate that many may have been more than a little deflated when seven changes were announced an hour before kick off.

It was a very inexperienced team with partnerships all over the pitch where players had not played together, including a first league start for Joe Anderson. If there were fears of a long afternoon ahead, then Sunderland to their credit allayed it with a bright start to the game. The Black Cats began with a real intensity, moving the ball quickly and getting into good areas. Harrison Jones looked more confident and decisive on his second league start and after Le Bris had called on fans to get behind Tommy Watson ahead of the game, the winger was playing with noticeable improved intensity.

The issue for Sunderland was in making the most of the multiple set piece situations they forced, and a general lack of conviction in the final third. They played into good areas well, but too often didn't get enough bodies into the box.

Blackburn made them pay with what was just about their first attacking move of the half, working an overlap on the left side. They showed good patience to work the ball into the box and Tyrhys Dolan did the rest, getting away from Anderson before firing into the roof of the net. It was harsh on Sunderland given their first-half performance, but underlined the need to be more aggressive in the final third.

In truth the second half was much of the same. Sunderland dominated the ball and got into some good very good areas, but just didn't show enough conviction to flood the box and got on the end of crosses. Even if there were some positives from the general performance, Sunderland are struggling to score at the moment and there is surely a need to focus on building some real attacking rhythm, above all else to get some energy and give supporters a real feeling of optimism heading into the play-offs.

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