Sunderland boss shoulders the blame for red card at Man United

Manchester United's Radamel Falcao is challenged by Sunderland's John O'Shea and Wes Brown during the Barclays Premier League match at Old Trafford, Manchester. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday February 28, 2015. See PA story SOCCER Man Utd. Photo credit should read: Martin Rickett/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Editorial use only. Maximum 45 images during a match. No video emulation or promotion as 'live'. No use in games, competitions, merchandise, betting or single club/player services. No use with unofficial audio, video, data, fixtures or club/league logos.

But Poyet shouldered the blame for the penalty and red card incident which proved to be a game-changer in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Manchester United.

Poyet was getting ready to introduce Danny Graham from the substitute’s bench just after the hour mark, but admitted in hindsight, that he should have brought the striker on sooner.

Had that been the case, Poyet believes it may have given Sunderland some sort of attacking threat and halted the pattern of being camped inside their own half.

Poyet said: “We needed to make sure we improved a few things in the second half but we didn’t and that’s why we needed to make a change.

“I left it too late.

“We needed someone to go in behind. We didn’t have enough power going forward and Danny Graham was going to give us that.

“We were ready, the change had already been decided when the penalty happened and that changed the game.

“One minute before and one minute after was the difference between us conceding a goal.

“I was disappointed with the first 20 minutes of the second half.

“Maybe at that time, the players were just thinking about defending to get a result.”

Poyet felt Sunderland needed to make more of the jitters they caused in the United defence during the opening exchanges, when Connor Wickham drew a smart save out of David De Gea and Jermain Defoe had a couple of efforts from the edge of the box.

“For 15 minutes, I was delighted – everything we talked about in the week, knowing how they were playing, was working well,” added Poyet.

“We started as we planned. We were aggressive.

“We broke with danger and had a couple of great opportunities to make the difference.

“When you have those chances at Old Trafford, you need to take them.”