Xisco Munoz: Sheffield Wednesday 'killed' by dreadful start against Sunderland - but answers are in short supply

The game was played against the backdrop of an awfully-timed statement on the morning of the game by chairman Dejphon Chansiri announcing he was no longer going to provide "additional money" to the club – a statement his manager claimed not to have read – fans protest and a start to the season which had seen the Owls fail to win any of their opening 10 matches in all competitions.

So when the Owls conceded a sloppy set-piece goal and then allowed Jack Clarke to score a soft second, the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

Considering Clarke scored a 31st-minute penalty, Wednesday did well to keep the damage to three as their visitors eased up.

"i was disappointed with the first minutes," admitted under-pressure Munoz, who had to listen to fans calling for his sacking throughout.

"It's very difficult when you concede very early. We conceded twice in nine minutes.

"We need to understand this pressure, we need to understand the situation, we need to be mature in these moments and when you concede you need the capacity to react.

"We conceded from the first two shots against us and it killed the game. The game was dead.

"At half-time we spoke and we had some reaction but we need to improve.

"We have to handle the pressure of playing at home in this situation."

Nobody marked Dan Ballard at an early corner which should never have been conceded.

"This is the Championship and we need to understand the problems we have right now in set pieces," he saod. "We are working very hard on these situations in training and we need to think not only about the corner but also what happened before the corner when we had an opportunity to attack when the ball arrived with our keeper. We spoke today about not needing to give these chances."

Asked what he could change, Munoz replied: "We've tried different systems, we've used a lot of players. We can continue to look for solutions but when you concede two goals in nine minutes the style, the system, the tactics don't matter.

"After that we needed to take more risks so we went man to man with a high press."

As to whether he would get the time to turn things around, the Spaniard understandably could not answer, but he claimed not to have seen Chansiri's early-morning broadside on the club's official website.

"This is a question you need to ask the boss," he said on his future.

"I have my job thinking about football, I put my focus on football.

"I'm sure everyone is disappointed but we need to understand the situation. it's important to try to help.

"In the second half we found some better moments but not enough."

Barry Bannan and Josh Windass both missed the game with injury and are doubts for Tuesday's trip to West Bromwich Albion.

"They had injuries in the last part of the week," said Munoz. "We will see if they can recover (in time to face West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday). They both always try to give their maximum to push themselves to play. But it's a short time."