‘We’re shooting ourselves in the foot but we take responsibility...’
Sunderland captain Corry Evans says players’ decision making is letting them down – and has taken responsibility for the club’s dire run of form.
The Black Cats are without a victory in six games, have won just one of their last ten matches and are in serious danger of missing out on a play-off place.
They currently stand sixth in League One – occupying the last play-off slot – but are only a point ahead of Wycombe Wanderers, having played a game more.
Speaking after Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Burton Albion at the Stadium of Light, Evans told the local media: “Yeah it’s difficult. Individually It's difficult and I take responsibility for being team captain, I share a lot of that load and am just trying to help the team get back to winning ways.
“It’s been a tough period and we need to get the feelgood factor back and try to get a win.”
Sunderland have kept just one clean sheet in their last ten games and have continued to look vulnerable at the back.
At the other end of the pitch, the team struggled to create chances for strikers Jermain Defoe and Ross Stewart against Burton, despite the latter grabbing a late equaliser.
“Listen it’s down to no lack of effort, we’re trying and giving our all,” added Evans
"It’s probably just decision making at times, quality as well, where we are getting in certain areas and just not producing, and as well we are giving away sloppy goals.
“We are shooting ourselves in the foot almost.”
Sunderland changed their shape against Burton to play with a back three and wing-backs, with Evans and Jay Matete keeping their places in midfield.
Alex Pritchard was also moved into a more central position behind Stewart and Defoe.
“It was still three in the middle, we had Alex in there as well,” replied Evans, when asked about the change of system.
“The manager does a lot of analyst work in terms of the opposition and we tried to play in a way that would give us the advantage against them.
“I thought we started the game very well in the first half and we just didn’t have enough quality into the box, didn’t provide the service for Jermain and Ross and we have to find these solutions quickly.”
A crowd of 30,237 were present for the Burton match and, while Evans admits there is extra pressure playing for Sunderland, the midfielder knows what the home support can bring.
“I think a lot of our players are young and we need to learn to cope with this pressure,” Evans added.
“We are a big club in League One and we should be doing better for the size of the club we are.
“We need to be challenging for the top two.
“Unfortunately we haven’t been able to do that so far but we need to kick on and try to finish as high as possible.
“We have to use the crowd to our advantage and get them on our side, they can be a great asset to us.
“Unfortunately we haven’t really done that in the last few games so we have to try and find a way to use the crowd to our advantage.
"Hopefully we can do that moving forward and get back up the table.”