Johnson: I could have made those four substitutions after 20 minutes

Lee Johnson said he considered making a quadruple substitution just 20 minutes into Sunderland's FA Cup defeat against Mansfield Town.

The Black Cats were dumped out in the first round of the competition for the third season in a row, having fallen behind after just five minutes to a Rhys Oates goal.

Sunderland were outplayed throughout the first half and Johnson replaced Frederik Alves, Leon Dajaku, Tom Flanagan and Aiden O'Brien at the break.

Despite the Black Cats struggling to produce clear chances, the head coach said his side did improve in the second half, while admitting their performance was still 'not great'.

But the 'laissez-faire' performance through the first half was a major concern.

"I just want to see that enthusiasm as a team," Johnson said of his substitutions.

"As a coach you want to see your personality on the pitch, and I'd like to think my personality is tenacious, with a will to win, a positive footballing mindset.

"That's what I want to see from my team.

"I could have made those subs after 20 minutes if I'm honest with you, and I was thinking about it, I really was.

"You can't get swallowed up by this club, and as a player you've got to produce your best, whether that's physical or technical.

"You've got to bring that out way more than we did in the first half."

Johnson – whose side has lost its last three games – told his players they 'could not hide' and had to show more.

"I saw one or two attitude errors in terms of not tracking runners, bits and bobs like that, but for me it was a bit of a freeze," he said.

"There wasn't a fluidity to the movement, to the thinking. Everything was a struggle in terms of getting across the ground, bad decisions because players think it's going to be easier against Mansfield than against QPR or Arsenal.

"That's the question I posed to the players at half time. When you go to the Emirates, will you start like that and play like that? No, because you're the underdog, because you'll be up for the occasion.

"These are things that I'm saying, you have to be good all the time. Whether it's a training drill or whether it's a final."