Chris Coleman: Sunderland players knew the risk coming here, now they have to handle pressure

The Sunderland boss was as bullish as he has been post-match for some time, despite the 1-0 defeat to QPR, pleased with the mentality of his team and their attempts to snatch something out of the game in the closing moments.

He would not be drawn into criticising Jason Steele, suggesting the goalkeeper may have been the victim of an unfortunate bounce. As he has done since his arrival, he spoke well, with clarity and with honesty.

Yet he is fully aware that he has been here before, said it all before and to supporters the words must seem increasingly hollow.

Time is running out to turn the positives into points.

“I am running out of things to say to the players,” the ex-Wales boss admitted, as Sunderland remain four points from safety.

“Tuesday was easy because it was obvious – anyone can say what was wrong.

“After Saturday, the only thing you can say to them is, ‘Just keep going.’ The teams around us keep dangling carrots at us, they’re not putting us out of our misery.

“While the gap’s there and it’s not getting bigger, there’s still a chance for us. I said it last week and the week before but we didn’t win, we drew.

“In our situation, we’ve got to hang onto the fact that at least we played like a team and looked out for each other.

“We didn’t duck it and on Tuesday we did, we just wimped out of it. We didn’t do that (at QPR). So we have to build on that.

“When you’ve got a fanbase like we have, and a club the size of us and you’re bottom of the league and haven’t won for nine games, there’s huge pressure on everybody.

“That’s why you want to come to this club – you run the risk of that if it’s not going well, but if we can just get a win and close that gap from four points, I know what will happen at our place.

“But every game that goes past I’m saying the same thing and that’s hard.

“The players have got to show the same heart and a bit more composure at both ends, but, in terms of our all-round play and putting our personality on the game, we tried on Saturday – we tried to do something positive but it never came off.

“We lost. But it wasn’t for the want of trying."