Black Cats now outperformed by fans

SUNDERLAND winger Wahbi Khazri says his team are so bad they are even being trounced by their fans.

Joe Allen’s double won this basement battle for Stoke and left Sunderland as the only top-flight side without a win.

But despite booing their team off at half-time, the travelling fans chanted defiantly in the second half, even as David Moyes’ men showed few signs of a resurgence.

“Our fans are amazing,” said Khazri of the 3,000 who came. “The team is not at that level

STOKE SUNDERLAND

and we need to work to be the same as the fans.”

Moyes admitted he has blooded more youngsters than he wanted to. He has a host of senior players sidelined and his side looked flimsy.

“You need players with experience who have been there and done it,” he said.

“We had a lot of young players. It was our choice to get them and they will get better and become good players, but we tried not to use them all at once.”

Sunderland gifted Allen his opener – a free header five yards out from a cross.

Geoff Cameron brought a superb save out of Jordan Pickford but the keeper could not stop Allen scoring again. Ryan Shawcross headed down a corner and Allen seized on John O’Shea’s heavy touch.

Marko Arnautovic had a goal ruled out for offside and Charlie Adam rattled the bar. Stoke boss Mark Hughes deployed Allen at No10 and fellow midfielder Cameron said that suited him to a tee.

“He’s on fire right now, so we want him higher up the field,” said Cameron.

STOKE (4-2-3-1): Booked: NEXT UP: SUNDERLAND (4-3-3): Goals: