David Moyes has challenged his players to turn their spells of dominance into being more ruthless in the final third.
Sunderland’s bright start last weekend, which saw Adnan Januzaj and Jermain Defoe go close, turned to dust when Manolo Gabbiadini scored a first-half brace.
A plucky second period then went from bad to worse for Moyes’ troops as Jason Denayer’s own goal and Shane Long’s calm finish in the closing stages round off an afternoon to forget for the lads.
But as Moyes attempts to banish memories of Saturday’s disappointment, the Scot has focused his attentions on harbouring a steely team spirit in New York ahead of his Goodison Park return next week.
“I’m really disappointed with the result against Southampton because our performance wasn’t good enough,” Moyes reflected.
“There were parts of it where we played well especially in the opening 20-25 minutes.
“But we probably didn’t make enough chances yet I thought we were the better team.
“We were threatening to make opportunities and I think the supporters and the crowd recognised that but the game turned on the goal.
“They had just one chance before that and they started to show a bit more,” he continued.
“It’s a chance gone, a chance to get us out of trouble but it’s certainly not for the want of trying or effort from the players.
“We will get ready for the next one now (at Everton), we don’t have a game for two weeks now so we will try and get ourselves ready for what will be a really difficult game.
