Coleman: We need to stick to our gameplans

Chris Coleman admitted the 3-1 defeat to Reading gave him a full sense of Sunderland’s problems at home, but says it is his responsibility to change it going forward.

Coleman said there was no hairdryer treatment postmatch, despite a shambolic defensive display that saw Reading score all three of their goals in an 18-minute spell.

The manager was left to rue the crucial sending-off of Callum McManaman on the stroke of half-time and maintains that sticking to a gameplan is the key going forward.

Coleman said: “They musthave had 1000 inquests here, I’m quite sure. I’m not a big o n e for that. I’ve said to the players, I know they’ve been here more than once. We had a chat about what happened, yeah.

“Something has got to break and quickly, then we’ll see a bit more confidence in possession, we’ll be less nervous because [at the moment] we’re one thinking one missed pass is the end of the world.

“It’s not. We’re going to misplace passes, we’re going to miss a tackle, we’ve got to stay calm. It’s alright running around and looking like you’re full of passion – that should be a given – but you’ve got to know when to do it.

“That’s what we’ve got to work on – when we play here we’ve got to have a gameplan and stick to it.

“To be fair to the players, it’s hard because we’ve gone down to 10, then we had to change it a bit. The future is my responsibility and I’ve got to change it.”

“That pitch looks double the size when you’re in our position. When the opposition have got the ball, our goal looks about three times bigger, our goalkeeper looks smaller and he’s 6ft 4.

“That’s what happens when you’ve gone so long without winning in your back garden. You can feel it.

“I’m not even going to say, ‘before I was here’ or anything like that. I’ve been here, I’ve had one game and I’ve fallen flat on my face. I can’t talk about what’s happened before me.

“This is me today, no points, that’s my responsibility. I can’t change the past, I can only change the future.”