Poyet: Sunderland deserved more at Spurs

Sunderland boss Gus Poyet felt his side were unlucky to come away with nothing from their 2-1 Premier League defeat at Tottenham. 

The hosts took the lead after just three minutes through Jan Vertonghen at White Hart Lane on Saturday, before Sebastian Larsson curled home a 30-yard free-kick just after half-an-hour. 

A tenacious performance from the visitors - who handed a debut to new signing Jermain Defoe as part of a 5-3-2 formation - looked to have sealed a point before Christian Eriksen lashed home from just outside the area with two minutes left. 

"When the winning goal is so late, it hurts," said Poyet. "But it's part of football. You need to be good all the time, not 88 minutes or 89 minutes.

"That's disappointing, but I think that for a new formation and a new way of playing away at White Hart Lane we were doing quite alright, so it's a shame that we didn't get something from the game."

Despite that optimism, Poyet could not hide his concern at a lack of goals this season.

Sunderland are the Premier League's second-lowest scorers, with Steven Fletcher and Danny Graham both spurning good opportunities on Saturday. 

Poyet added: "The chance for Fletcher...if you did it 10 times he would have scored nine. Unfortunately that was the 10th time.   

"I think the two chances from Graham were good enough to put one of them in the back of the net. I think if you keep creating those chances you've got to make sure you score, because the rest is going to get better and better."

Defoe's performance against his old club, after arriving from Toronto FC on Friday, could not lift Sunderland, and he struggled to make an impact before being replaced by Graham with 15 minutes left.

"I played him for a little bit longer than expected but he is going to get better and better and I'm sure when he gets that first chance he's going to put the ball into the back of the net," said Poyet. "I think it was a good start and a great place for him to start playing for us."