PATRICK Roberts says Sunderland's players take responsibility for the two disappointing Plymouth and Huddersfield defeats and are desperate to get back on track when the Black Cats head for Millwall tomorrow.

Sunderland have fallen out of the top six and tumbled down to 11th in the Championship table after successive defeats in the last week, with the Huddersfield setback particularly frustrating given the Terriers' dreadful form prior to their Wearside trip.

Tony Mowbray's squad is extremely young and relatively inexperienced but Roberts says the players can't use that as an excuse.

"I think we have to take responsibility as a team, the manager will take his responsibility and we’ll take responsibility as players and take accountability that we’ve not been good enough," said the winger.

"It’s something we have to sort out, myself included, and produce on the pitch. Everyone needs to dig in now, recover and go again at the weekend.

"We have quite a lot of the squad under the age of 23. Even I class myself as quite young and I’m 26, nearly 27.

"It’s hard but at the same time we’re a big club and there are those expectations on you, no matter your age you should be going out there wanting to impress and wanting to show you are a good player and win for this team."

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Huddersfield set up to stifle on Wednesday night and while Roberts admits Sunderland find it easier playing against teams that want to go toe-to-toe rather than frustrate, he says it's something the Black Cats have to deal with and overcome if they want to repeat last season's top six finish.

"You have so many men behind the ball there is only so much you can do and sometimes it’s really hard to break them down and that’s what they’ve come here to do," he says.

"Teams come here to do that and we have to find ways if we want to be up there right at the end. We have to find ways of breaking down defences like that . We have to look at it, learn from it and take it into the next game.

"It can be a bit easier against other teams but then they also have the quality so if you are not putting it away then you have to be solid at the back as they can damage. We have to be a team that a lot of teams fear and show that we can score goals and keep them out as well.

"All aspects need to come together as a team and we’ll work on that together. We win together and lose together. We can only learn."