Luke O'Nien calls for 'perspective' following Sunderland defeat to Plymouth

Luke O’Nien has called for ‘perspective’ following another frustrating away day for Sunderland in the Championship.

O’Nien returned to the side after suspension to lead Sunderland out against Plymouth Argyle, but it was the Pilgrims who came out with a 2-0 win.

That result was tough for Sunderland to take given they dominated for long periods, but Plymouth were much more ruthless in front of goal and few could therefore have any real complaints.

Following on from other failures to score at Leicester and Swansea, understandable criticism has come Sunderland’s way for their wastefulness in front of goal.

O’Nien is happy to take the criticism, but he maintains Sunderland are in a good position overall.

“I think perspective is key,” he told safc.com. “We’re only two points out of the top six [and] I think only maybe five teams have scored more than us this season, so we’re in a good position.

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“We’ve got the standards and the expectation that we want to win every game which I think is good for the group. Granted, when you don’t get the points it’s disappointing.

“So we’ve got to find a bit of balance. The senior lads have got to put some perspective into the group and realise we’re not far off the top six.

“We’ve got to build on today’s performance, make sure we get better and better, and these lessons will serve us towards the end of the season when we really need to points.”

Sunderland will get an immediate chance to get the defeat at Plymouth out of their system when they host Huddersfield Town at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday.

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