Following today’s clash between Sunderland and Brentford, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Sunderland hosted Brentford at the Stadium of Light for a 3pm kick off on Saturday February 17, with the visitors taking a two nil lead.
Sunderland’s relegation troubles and struggles got worse as Kamohelo Mokotjo opened the scoring for Brentford in the 13th minute and with Neal Maupay finding the net to add a second just ahead of the 30 minute mark they took a deserved victory.
Sunderland didn’t crumble and let in a cricket score however and Chris Coleman will take something from that and they did have chances and hit the woodwork but without a quick turn in results they will complete a double relegation in back to back seasons.
Teams:
Sunderland:
Camp, Jones, O’Shea, Browning (Williams 45), Clarke-Salter, Honeyman, Cattermole, Robson (Matthews 45), McGeady, Asoro, Fletcher (Maja 74).
Substitutes:
Steele, McManaman, Kone, Gooch.
Brentford:
Bentley, Dalsgaard, Egan, Bjelland, Clarke, Mokotjo (Judge 77), McEachran (Woods 58), Jozefzoon, Sawyers, Watkins, Maupay (Marcondes 84).
Substitutes:
MacLeod, Daniels, Barbet, Mepham.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee John Brooks blew the final whistle, Sunderland manager Chris Coleman explained.
’45 minutes in, 2-0 down, booed off; how many times can we come out and talk about the same things? I’m trying to stay away from comparing first-half and second-half. There were two goals, two preventable goals. I think – why work hard Monday to Friday and work well, and then when we come on the big stage that happens? It was a loss not having Ovie Ejaria to put the foot on the ball in midfield and calm things down but the concern is the manner that the goals go in. I’m bitterly disappointed. From the kick-off we started slashing at passes, if I could see that in training, I’d see a pattern, I’d know to expect that. It looks like we’re panicking.’
Brentford head coach Dean Smith in his comparative interview explained.
‘First-half I thought we were excellent as good as we’ve played for a while. We looked young, vibrant, energetic and showed a lot of quality. We should probably have been more than two goals up and should have killed the game off before half-time. Second-half we weren’t anywhere near as good, we were a little bit sloppy on the ball, our decision making went to pot a little bit but to go away from home and score two goals and keep a clean sheet is always something that makes a head coach smile.’
Was so disappointing