Wayne Rooney says Sunderland are ‘a good team with good players’ after criticising his Birmingham players for their concentration levels at the Stadium of Light.
Sunderland welcomed Rooney and Birmingham to Wearside on Saturday but the Black Cats were not in charitable mood as they ran out 3-1 winners.
An early Jobe Bellingham goal gave Sunderland the lead but Koji Miyoshi equalised on the half hour. A Dion Sanderson own goal and Adil Aouchiche both scored from close range to secure the points for Sunderland in the second half.
The defeat leaves Rooney still looking for his first win as Blues manager and with a less than impressive return of one point from a possible 15.
He, though, had to concede that Sunderland were a tough test for his players, albeit one his players could have come through had they not switched off mentally at key moments.
“The reaction of the players was really good to get back in the game,” Rooney said.
“We put them under a bit of pressure and had two or three really good chances, but (there was) a lack of care in the final third. With a bit more care we maybe go in with the lead at half-time.
“I was pleased with the last 25 minutes of the first half. It was a close game and concentration let us down.
“We spoke about this. For the second goal, Sunderland play a lot of short corner kicks and we switched off and conceded a sloppy goal. They got the third when we were chasing it.
“It’s frustrating because I spoke to the players about concentration levels because Sunderland are a good team with good players.
“That has to be there for 90 minutes and the moments we switched off, it cost us the game.”
The win puts Sunderland back in the play-offs positions heading into the international break, but leaves Birmingham in 18th place in the Championship table.
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