Nottingham Forest boss Ange Postecoglou admitted his frustration after his side slipped to a 1-0 home defeat to Sunderland at the City Ground which continues his winless start in charge.
A moment of controversy resulted in Sunderland scoring the only goal of the game, as referee Tony Harrington gave a free-kick in a dangerous area to the visitors after he thought Nicolas Dominguez dived in a challenge with Trai Hume as he tried to clear the ball.
Granit Xhaka lifted the resulting free-kick in for central defender Omar Alderete, who beat the offside trap and headed beyond Matz Sels for the only goal of the game.
Sunderland had their backs to the wall in the second period and had to rely on goalkeeper Robin Roefs, who was in inspired form and made a string of second-half saves to seal a first away victory for the Black Cats.
Postecoglou admits the way his team defended the free-kick was a concern and refused to pin the blame on referee Harrington.
He said: “Frustrating. Disappointing. It’s another game we have allowed to get away from us, where really we should be very comfortably overcoming (the opposition).
“I didn’t think there was anything in it (the free-kick). Irrespective, even if the referee has made an absolute high howler, we can still deal with the free-kick better.
“What we did after that is more of a concern to me than the decision.
“It was a whole range of decisions from the officials, from awarding and then some holding in the box. But I still think we were way too lax in our determination to keep the ball out of the net.
“I just thought it was a really disappointing goal to concede, particularly in a game where we were pretty much in control.”
Forest had 22 shots on goal but were unable to find a goal and are now still without a win since the opening day.
Postecoglou added: “We certainly created enough opportunities in the second half and even in the first half.
“But at the moment, we’re not ruthless enough in terms of taking advantage of the dominance we have and turning it into wins, rather than what’s happened in the last four or five games.”
Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris insists his side cannot become complacent following a great start to their Premier League campaign.
He said after a third victory in six matches: “We can’t expect anything if we don’t defend properly. Coming here we had to defend really well, we did well, not perfectly – but enough to keep the clean sheet.
“The result is positive but if you look at different phases, we have many things to improve.
“The most important thing is we have 11 points and when you can win points, do it because it’s not easy and we can’t become complacent. The lads are well connected with this idea, proud to win away but aware we have to better.
“It wasn’t an easy place to win today and we did it. It’s not a perfect game but it doesn’t have to be. We will take it game by game.”
