Sunderland AFC midfielder Sebastian Larsson has stated that the Black Cats were "not good enough" in their poor 3-1 defeat to Stoke City.
Slammed the door in our own face
The clash at the Stadium of Light proved crucial for David Moyes, to gain some crucial points against Mark Hughes' side who were also struggling near the bottom.
However the Potters produced an excellent first-half performance on Wearside, with goals from Peter Crouch and a brace from Marko Arnautović putting a nail in the coffin. Jermain Defoe managed to grab a consolation, but Larsson insisted that they wasted a good opportunity.
"Not good enough," Larsson told safc.com. "It's as simple as that."
"You lose a home game," he stated. "When we thought we had a good chance of three points."
"We spoke again about having an opportunity to get out of the bottom three." The Swede stressed.
"We really slammed the door in our own faces early on," he admitted. "And really handed Stoke the game."
Larsson concluded: "It was not good enough."
Have to perform
The Black Cats kicked into life and performed much better in the second period. Fabio Borini and Jack Rodwell had good opportunities, but Moyes' insisted that their slow start to the contest let them down.
"It was a poor opening part of the game from us," he said. "Not necessarily that we played badly, but three mistakes have cost us."
“We made it really difficult for ourselves and we were punished," the manager admitted. "But we got a goal back and in the second half we were better."
“Everyone knows we have injuries and players that are away," the Scotsman stressed. "But we’re not going to use that as an excuse."
Moyes concluded: "The players that are out there have to perform.”
Sunderland AFC will take on Burnley in their third-round FA Cup replay at Turf Moor on Tuesday, January 17 with kick-off at 7:45pm GMT