Saturday 17 January 2015 21:40, UK
Sunderland boss Gus Poyet felt his side deserved something after losing 2-1 at Tottenham as Christian Eriksen scored the winner two minutes from time at White Hart Lane.
After conceding a deflected Jan Vertonghen goal after two minutes in Saturday's Premier League encounter, the Black Cats levelled in the 31st minute from a Seb Larsson free-kick before Eriksen’s winning effort gave the hosts all three points.
Former Spurs player Poyet said: "It’s difficult. I’m disappointed because I thought we were good enough to get something from the game. If we’re talking about chances, the penalty that was not given, then I think we deserved a bit better.
"I think we need to learn - it’s a new way of playing. We've changed the system and it was a good try. There are things that we need to do every day. When you do the right things all the time, you have a great chance to win games. And today we only lost it because of a couple of incidents."
The defeat leaves the Uruguayan's team in 16th place in the table and just one point above the relegation zone following a run that has seen them lose four of their last six league games.
Poyet added: "We can take positives from today. I don’t think we created a better chance than Steven Fletcher’s in the first half.
"We had shots, we had rebounds, and Hugo Lloris made a great save at the end from Danny Graham. We did quite well considering it was a completely new shape."
While full of praise for debutant Jermain Defoe, Poyet was not too happy with referee Chris Foy after he failed to award a penalty in the first half.
Sunderland’s new striker tangled with Jan Vertonghen in the box and Poyet felt the officials got the decision wrong.
He added: "I don’t know [why it isn’t a yellow for simulation, if it isn’t a penalty]. I’m sure I will be wrong anyway because they - the officials - will only find a way to say what they want to say.
"Defoe started very well and I think his positioning was unlucky, my analyst told me he was offside by a hand.
"I have to congratulate the linesman because if you give an offside and you are spot on, when the other way - as Spurs attacked - there were a couple of incidents that you think would be clearer."
