Tony Mowbray blames 'naivety' for Sunderland lack of cutting edge

Tony Mowbray says he is as frustrated as anyone after his Sunderland side failed to score again away from home, and he thinks it's a lack of experience.

Tony Mowbray has told his young players they ‘have to be more ruthless’ after blaming another frustrating lack of goals on ‘naivety.’

Sunderland had 24 shots in the 2-0 defeat at Plymouth but only hit the target with five of them. Added to the previous away game at Swansea – a 0-0 draw against ten men – that makes it a pretty dismal 49 shots and eight on target in their last two away games.

Sunderland have now failed to score away from home in three matches, and not since the 2-1 defeat at Stoke more than a month ago.

It is a shortcoming that Mowbray currently shares with the fans, although he is putting it down to the ‘naivety’ of his young side.

"We've talked about it before," said Mowbray, when asked about what he can do to get more cutting edge out of his players.

"We work with the strikers every day. I think [Plymouth ] had two shots on target and scored both of them.

"Sometimes you have to suck it up and accept it. We were pretty dominant for most of the game, yet we knew they had threats - I think they are the third top-scorers in the league so we knew they could score goals, and they showed they can do that.

"I was a bit disappointed with the first half, that we didn't get to the intensity that we should have. You have to put the ball in the net.

"I talked at half-time about us being 2-0 up at half-time against Burnley last season and then losing 4-2 - we needed to score in the first 10 minutes of the second half today.

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“It didn't quite happen for us, we hit the post a couple of times, didn't make the keeper work enough, but we got into lots of amazing positions in the box but just didn't find the space or the pass - or the combination.

"Jack [Clarke] drove into that box 30 times or something, putting it across and hitting the first man a few times or not finding the right finish. We're a work in progress, we know that.

"It's frustrating when you get results like today but there are plenty of positives as well. They worked hard enough but they are just a little bit naive.

"I'm trying not to be harsh on them but it is frustrating, the fans made a long trip to come here today and we have to find a way to put the ball in the net, we have to be more ruthless.

“They are young players but they are footballers, they have to more ruthless, they have to understand we are all being judged."

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