Sunderland boss on 'ridiculous' goal and Preston North End defeat

Chris Coleman slammed his team's defending after they gifted a 'ridiculous' goal to Preston North End.
Coleman admitted he will have to try something different with his Sunderland squadColeman admitted he will have to try something different with his Sunderland squad
Coleman admitted he will have to try something different with his Sunderland squad

Neither side has been in control of the game at half-time, but Preston were ahead just minutes into the second half as Sean Maguire stooped to head home a Paul Gallagher free-kick.

Maguire was one of two players unmarked at the back post.

A despondent Coleman admitted he was saying the same thing every week and that the team would never get away from trouble if they keep making the same mistakes.

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He said: "There's nothing new I can tell you. Same mistakes, same theme. I keep saying the same things every week. The first 45 minutes is okay, but after that we give away a ridiculous goal, the kind of goal that we don't get from opposition. We work on set-plays but we don't mark and you get punished.

"Six times since I've been here we've had men sent off maybe that's a team that's struggling and pushed to the limit. It's a common theme. I'm saying the same things as I was two weeks ago, we're conceding silly goals.

"We're only one win away from changing it round, but you'd write us off because we keep making mistakes and we're not rising to the challenge," he added.

"We change formation and personnel but we don't seem to be hitting the mark. The best thing for us is this two week break, in terms of the pressure being off next weekend. We wanted to go into the break on a positive note on the back of a result but it's the opposite of that.

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"We're never going to get away from where we are if we play like that. You have to keep focus at this level, if not you'll get punished. You don't get away with it. We've tried a lot of different things. We're up against it here before we've kicked a ball, it's been like that for a couple of years and that's self induced but the fans clapped us off at half time."

Coleman admitted that he will need to use the international break to try something different with his ailing squad.

He said: "How many times have I sat here saying the same thing. If that's how it's going to be then we're going to have to take our medicine. You must be sick of me saying it's only five points. We've lost again in a poor manner. It's mindset, simple as that, mindset. It's what you do all week. We've got to start looking at different preparation, turning on its head completely.

"You can't physically get on the pitch as a manger, there's only so many things you can influence, you've got to look at yourself as a human being but I've been in this game long enough to understand these moments come and we'll get through it by hook or by crook. You have to."