Tony Mowbray admits his attempt to refresh Sunderland's starting XI backfired as the Black Cats lost at home to Cardiff City. Mowbray made four changes to the side that began the midweek win at Huddersfield, and amongst those alterations he opted to rest experienced midfielders such as Corry Evans and Alex Pritchard and hand teenager Abdoullah Ba his first start alongside the still relatively inexperienced Dan Neil.
That allowed Cardiff to dominate the first half and it was not until the second period when the likes of Evans and Pritchard came off the bench that Sunderland belatedly took some measure of control. "We made a few changes to try and freshen it up and ultimately I don't think it helped the team," said Mowbray.
"We're all disappointed because we were trying to get back-to-back wins after a good win [at Huddersfield] - not a great performance, but a good win away from home - and we tried to follow that up. You'd have to say that Cardiff played well today and congratulate them, while we lacked the intensity to be able to stop that.
READ MORE: Tony Mowbray warns Sunderland must do all they can to keep hold of Ross Stewart
"Their passing and movement in the first half was good and it gave us problems. If you look at the first 20 minutes, they had control but we broke away and had some really good chances - it felt as though after 20 minutes it could be 2-2!
"We have to keep persevering. Here we are with some really talented young footballers we are trying to integrate into our squad but I think it showed when we got some more experienced players on, we had more control but we couldn't find a way to get the goal we needed."
One selection decision that will have pleased Sunderland fans was the inclusion of striker Ellis Simms from the start, with the on-loan Everton striker judged ready to be included in the starting XI. But the other decisions will inevitably come under scrutiny.
Mowbray said: "I don't listen to it or hear it. I make the decisions, and you win or you lose. If everyone is saying those changes were great or that selection was great, I don't listen to it and vice-versa if there's criticism about changes or selection.
"I'm not really interested. What matters in football management is finding a way to win games. Whether you do it by sticking with the same XI every week and you're playing with tired players and you get beat and people say you look a bit jaded, or you put in some young ones in for energy and youthfulness and then you get beat and people say [that's wrong].
"It doesn't really matter. At the end of it, today we weren't quite good enough."
Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson saved a Joe Ralls penalty in the first half after Danny Batth had fouled Jaden Philogene, but Mark Harris scored the only goal of the game early in the second half.
The defeat means Sunderland slip one place to 13th in the table, above 14th-placed Cardiff on goal difference.
