Sunderland not at “expected” level as they lose at Oxford

The latest North East sport headlines, from Daniel Wales.

Transcript

00:00Sunderland were beaten 2-0 by Oxford United in the Championship on Saturday afternoon,

00:06continuing their poor recent form. Head coach Raditz Labrice said that his side were not

00:11at the expected level he was hoping for.

00:16Yes, disappointing and happy for our fans, for example, because they were here to support

00:23us and we were not at the level expected for that fixture because we didn't face their

00:31energy and at the end we didn't create chances and we conceded two goals on set pieces and

00:39these games are always like that, so the opponent played really well this game with their own

00:47style with a tough pitch obviously, but at the same time it's an important reminder for

00:53us because when we will be in this condition, competitive game, important for the club, important

00:59for the fans, important for the players, important for everyone and we'll have to match this energy

01:04and it wasn't the case today, so obviously this wasn't our story today but it's a really

01:11strong reminder.

01:12And Middlesbrough were unable to find a winner at home to Norwich City in the Champions League.

01:16Championship on Saturday with Michael Carrick saying they just could not find the moment

01:22to grab all three points during the encounter.

01:24Yeah, we just couldn't quite find that moment we needed really.

01:31Tough to play against in the circumstance, you know, they've got some good players that

01:35keep the ball well and they've played with that bit of freedom.

01:40And then we just couldn't find that spark when we needed it and find that moment and we needed

01:45one moment to go for us and it wasn't to be, you know, so yeah, we feel like we feel it

01:50because we didn't get the points that we came to get.

01:53The game's the game, I think we came for the points today and we didn't get them.

01:56Yeah, so we're still in the fight in some way, you know, if we can manage to win next week,

02:01you know what, last day's break can bring anything.

02:03So, yeah, it is, it was a day to try and win and get the three points.

02:10Today, as I said, repeating it really, but we couldn't find a moment of that spark when

02:13we needed it.