Tony Mowbray was delighted with Sunderland's win at Huddersfield - even though he branded the performance 'probably the worst since I've been here'. The Black Cats won 2-0 against the Championship's basement side on a rain-lashed and blustery night at the John Smith's Stadium, thanks to goals from former Huddersfield man Alex Pritchard and Amad.
The win was welcome, marking only Sunderland's second in nine games and their first on the road since mid-September, but Mowbray felt the performance level left much to be desired. "As I've just said to the boys, our performance level has to be miles better than that," he said.
"It's probably the worst performance since I've been here, I think. I didn't think we could play as poorly as that.
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"Give credit to Huddersfield, they moved the ball around well, they gave us lots of problems, their rotations were good. But our performance was probably like the weather really, not very good at all.
"It's great to be able to sit here though with three points in the bag and know that we are miles better than we showed tonight. We've got the points on the board and we'll move on and hopefully be a lot better on Saturday [when Cardiff City visit the Stadium of Light] and hopefully find a way to get back to the fluency we normally have."
Mowbray did take his share of the blame for the performance, however, saying he included too many attacking players in his starting XI. He said: "If anything, it's probably my fault for picking too many attacking players today and we probably didn't have enough resistance to stop them [Huddersfield] being good with the ball.
"I was trying to be bold with the team really, thinking we could come here and dominate and yet they gave us plenty of problems and we weren't good enough with the ball or without the ball, in the first half particularly."
Just as in the 1-1 weekend draw at Luton, Ellis Simms made an impact on the game from the bench. He was due to play half-an-hour against Huddersfield but ended up replacing Leon Dajaku at half-time as Mowbray sought to change the game.
He said: "The idea was to give him half-an-hour really, but you have to have a physical presence, someone that wants to run in behind against these teams or else they can just squash you when you try to play in front of them and the wind's blowing and the rain's pouring down and the ball is skidding everywhere.
"We just couldn't get them off our back really, so Simms had to go on and threaten over the top and in behind, and give us a presence to play off. I think he helped enormously and we looked like we could score a goal in the second half."
Pritchard joined Sunderland in the summer of 2021 after three-and-a-half years at Huddersfield, and he was booed by the home fans whenever he touched the ball. But the midfielder had the last laugh when he scored the opening goal shortly after half-time.
Mowbray said: "I did say before the game that he would score tonight! He slipped over in the far corner and was getting pelters from their supporters.
"It's difficult when you go back to a past club, you want to do well and sometimes you try too hard. But good for Pritch, he's a fiery little guy really, he's got an opinion on everything, and I was pleased for him that he got his goal tonight because he was taking a bit of flak from the stands."
Amad added the second in injury-time to set the seal on the win, and Mowbray says the on-loan Manchester United wideman has now proved he is capable of starting games.
He said: "Amad is coming. It took him a bit of time, but he isn't a young unknown - Manchester United bought him from Atalanta for a lot of money and he is here to play football and to experience the expectation of the crowd.
"He's had to force his way into the team and his talent is undoubted. It's good for him and it's good for the team that we have unearthed another starter.
"In my mind, when I pick the team, I'm still trying to blood the young lads but I think he has gone past that now and he can affect the starting XI."
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