Luke O'Nien reacted to Sunderland's 5-1 defeat to Blackburn Rovers today.
EMBARRASSING
"Embarrassed, I think is the word that first comes to mind. To put in a performance like that, it’s unacceptable and it’s been difficult to process kind of in the last hour. Yeah, it’s unacceptable."
NOT GOOD ENOUGH
"I know people tend to say it’s one to forget but it’s not. I think games like that, it’s got to fuel you going forwards from when you cross the white line in training to when you go out. Days like that cannot happen. And we’ve got to make sure that you put in a way better performance than that. There’s a way to lose, there’s a way to lose games and that was very, very far from it. I think people know that you are going to lose games but to come away from the basics of just, you know, having pride and possession on the ball- getting tight enough, running. The non-negotiables weren’t there. And that’s why it’s unacceptable. Collectively, we are embarrassed because days like that just can’t happen. It’s as simple as that."
EACH PLAYER
"Listen, I think a lot of the boys will be watching that back tonight, as soon as it comes on. I feel for the fans that had to watch that. They came and supported us and Doddsy, as well. He sets us up, he gives us all the information but if we don’t do the basics of the game- you know the players- every single one of us has got to take full accountability for that. We let him down, we let the fans down and now it’s important that we dissect that. It’s chalk and cheese from the weekend and it’s going to be very easy to see where things went wrong. And it just won’t happen again."
ONTO BRISTOL
"I wish the game (Bristol City) could be tomorrow just to put things right. But it’s going to be an important week ahead of us. When you have days like that, you see what the boys are going to be like- what characters are going to come forward and demand from the group, demand from themselves. Which we have all got to do. We have all got to be accountable for the mistakes, like myself for the second. You’ve got to have that burning fire inside you to make sure that you put things right and you just keep putting in performances way better than that. So, we will. Touch few days because obviously we have got to watch it back and get miles better but I have no doubt that we will."
