'Wigan Athletic ruined my honeymoon' - Sunderland boss

The former Oldham and Bristol City boss was unveiled just before kick-off on Saturday.

But Kyle Joseph's 16th-minute goal means he kicked off his Black Cats tenure in defeat.

“I think my honeymoon period lasted 15 minutes!" Johnson said.

"Days like today are disappointing, because it was my first day and I wanted to put in a good performance and get a good win.

"There were parts of our play that were good, but there were parts that need a lot of work on the training ground.

"I'm very, very, positive over what we can achieve over a period of time.

"Of course I want it yesterday, but in all big jobs like this it is going to take time to implement.

"I'm only about four hours into my reign, but I really wanted to take the game today and I'm pleased I did because it is a learning process.

"I'm learning about the players, the staff, and the feel about the place.

"It's my job to promote this element of creativity and not see personalities suppressed.

"This is a very big club and that comes with heavy scrutiny of everybody and I feel that I'm big enough and ugly enough to cope with that."

The visitors managed to pick up all three points despite only having one effort - Joseph's left-foot strike that flew into the corner of the net - on target.

At the other end, Sunderland huffed and puffed, but were unable to get ex-Latics frontman Will Grigg involved enough.

"The first 10-15 minutes was good in terms of what I asked them to do, playing forward quicker and running forward quicker," assessed Johnson.

"We crossed the ball from poor areas, and crossed too early, which let the opposition off the hook.

"The players tried to implement the high press, which is a pre-requisite and which is something that has to improve.

"It's something we have to look at in training and then execute on the pitch.

"But I know what people have been talking about now in terms of that final action, the movement of players in the box, and crossing to the near post.

"We also need more bodies in the box.

"We played a 4-3-3 today and it should enable you to get at least four in the box, sometimes five.

"And I wonder if it is a lack of understanding or cohesion, because we didn't get enough numbers in the box, or enough quality dynamic movement."

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