The dressing room verdict on what went wrong for Sunderland at Plymouth Argyle and what can improve
Sunderland fell to their first defeat of the season against Plymouth Argyle on Saturday
Dan Neil believes Sunderland's defeat to Plymouth Argyle will be a learning curve for the team and says they were too slow to adapt in the second half at Home Park.
The Black Cats took a 1-0 lead into the interval thanks to a Patrick Roberts penalty, but that was quickly overturned in the second half after Dan Ballard's own goal and Ryan Hardie's penalty. Romaine Mundle looked to have rescued a point late on but Joe Edwards scored a winner deep into seven minutes of stoppage time.
"I thought it was a game of two halves," he said.
"First half we mostly controlled in and out of possession, I didn't feel they threatened much. The second half was always going to be a different game, they came out with a bit more energy and we didn't adapt quick enough. We've conceded three poor goals.
"I think we've played teams this season that have come and pressed us and we've dealt with it well and shown different ways to play. "We haven't always played short and played ourselves into trouble, Eliezer has been stretching the pitch, Romaine has been stretching the pitch and allowing lads to get into those pockets. I just don't think that we reacted quick enough and recognised the change of momentum in the second half. When you come to places like this that's always going to happen.
"It's a little bit easier at home because you have the crowd behind you and I think we had to understand and adapt a bit earlier to the momentum they were building," Neil added.
"You don't have to throw your identity out of the window but maybe sometimes for five or ten minutes you just have to weather the storm, and we just didn't do that today. We found out at the back end of last year that there's no easy games in this league, it doesn't matter where you're playing, what position you are in the league or how confident you are. They'll have looked at today wanting to end our run and that's what we've got to be ready for, more ready than we were in that second half today."
Sunderland return to action against Middlesbrough next weekend.