Sunderland players must accept collective responsibility for their problems, says the 26-year-old outstanding player.

Patrick Roberts admits that Sunderland players and staff must accept responsibility for the club’s slump in form and focus on making amends against Millwall this weekend. Since early October, Sunderland’s results have taken a dramatic turn, with five defeats and only two wins in their last eight games, compared to five wins and only two defeats in the previous eight.

The Black Cats suffered damaging back-to-back defeats against lowly Plymouth Argyle last weekend and then relegation strugglers Huddersfield Town in midweek, dropping them out of the play-off places and into midtable. Sunderland’s four strikers have come under scrutiny due to their inability to score, but there are other issues to consider, as creative wideman Roberts admits that his own form has not been good enough with no goals and just a single assist to his name so far this season.
“It’s a tough one because we have so many [young players]; it’s not like we have a handful,” the former Manchester City man said in the wake of the defeat against Huddersfield. “You have quite a lot of the squad under the age of 23.

“Even I class myself as quite young, and I’m 26—nearly 27. It’s hard, but at the same time, we’re a big club, and there are expectations for you. No matter your age, you should be going out there wanting to impress and wanting to show you are a good player and win for this team.

“I think we have to take responsibility as a team; the manager will take his responsibility, and we’ll take responsibility as players and take accountability that we’ve not been good enough. It’s something we have to sort out, myself included, and produce on the pitch.

“Everyone needs to dig in now, recover, and go again on the weekend.”

Sunderland dominated possession against the Terriers and amassed 27 attempts on goal, but found the net only once through Luke O’Nien. A number of recent games have followed a similar pattern, with the Black Cats finding it difficult to convert their chances.

Roberts said of Huddersfield: “We came in knowing how they’d set up; they have a plan against us to stop us from getting towards their goal. It was just about breaking that down, and at the start, I thought we were very poor in that aspect.

“There’s no lack of trying; it’s sort of the execution. You are facing so many men behind the ball; there is only so much you can do, and sometimes it’s really hard to break them down, and that’s what they’ve come here to do.

“Teams come here to do that, and we have to find ways if we want to be up there right at the end. We have to find ways of breaking down defences like that, and on Wednesday, we weren’t at it at all.

“We have to look at it, learn from it, and take it into the next game. It can be tough, but we are all good players and should be doing a lot better, myself included. We should be scoring loads of goals and making it fun for the fans who have come out, and at the other end, obviously not conceding.

“I think both aspects need to be better and it was disappointing to lose. There were a lot of disappointed faces in the dressing room, and we have to get up and get going again.”