Sunderland head coach Gus Poyet has defended his tactics in his side's 3-2 Premier League defeat away at Sunderland, stating that the Black Cats "are not good enough" to play open football against the champions.
Yaya Toure broke the deadlock in the second half, before Stefan Jovetic doubled his side's lead, but the Black Cats pulled two quickfire goals back through Jack Rodwell and Adam Johnson.
However, substitute Frank Lampard scored with his second touch of the game to gift his side all three points.
Poyet told reporters after the game: "The idea was to frustrate City. There wasn't much in the game until an incredible goal from Yaya Toure and then the game opened up. It was end-to-end, maybe too open but you can't concede straight away after we got it back to 2-2.
"In the first half we defended well but on the ball we were very poor. The Yaya Toure goal changed the game completely and when you open up against City you can concede four or five so we were in a tricky spot.
"We are not good enough to play that open. We could win 5-4 but we will probably lose 5-2. I won't be changing my ways."
Sunderland sit 14th in the Premier League table following the defeat.
Giuseppe Labellarte
