Moyes angry at ‘dire’ loss at Burnley

Sunderland boss David Moyes, photo, seems to be facing an uncertain future after the team’s “dire” performance in their 4-1 loss at Burnley on Saturday.

The Black Cats end 2016 in the Premier League relegation zone after Burnley’s Andre Gray scored a hat-trick and Ashley Barnes converted a penalty.

“It was a poor performance - really, really bad - and defensively we were all over the place,” said Moyes.

“The players have to take responsibility as well as me.”

He added: “You can ask me questions about myself and my future, that’s fine. We’re in the bottom three, I know that.”

Jermain Defoe scored in the second half, but the result left Sunderland 18th in the table, with only one away win from 10 Premier League matches this season.

“We threatened at times going forward but we couldn’t defend,” added Moyes.

“We made the same mistakes time and time again; missed headers, missed bouncing balls, the same stuff.

“My players were well briefed on the opposition and you have to hope they take that into the game - but it was dire, as bad as anything I have been involved in here.”

Captain John O’Shea refused to make any excuses for his side.

“It was unacceptable, not good enough,” he said. “Away from home you have to be resilient, but the goals we conceded were not acceptable and the players have to take responsibility.

“There is no excuse for what went on and it’s something we will have to look at collectively and individually and dust ourselves down very quickly.

“The dressing room is not a good place but we know we can quickly turn this around. We have to have the attitude that we fight together.”