WILL BUCKLEY has urged his Sunderland team-mates not to dwell on Wednesday’s 4-1 home defeat to Manchester City, claiming it was simply a case of being unable to match one of the best teams in the league.

Having received plenty of praise in the wake of last weekend’s goalless draw with league leaders Chelsea, the Black Cats came back down to earth with a bump as they were comprehensively outplayed by a Sergio Aguero-inspired Manchester City at the Stadium of Light.

Things are unlikely to get much easier at the weekend, with Sunderland travelling to Anfield to take on a Liverpool team who finally displayed signs of improvement as they swept aside Leicester City on Tuesday.

When Gus Poyet’s side were thrashed at Southampton earlier this season, it took them a couple of weeks to get the defeat out of their system, but Buckley is determined to help ensure there is not a similar hangover on Saturday.

“We just have to draw a line under it and move on,” said the winger. “Sometimes, you get beaten by one of the best teams in the league. That’s just the reality of life in the Premier League and we shouldn’t be too harsh on ourselves about it.

“We’ve got another massive game on Saturday, and we’ll be looking to rectify what happened against Man City there. Hopefully, we can get a good result at Anfield.

“It was a difficult night and Manchester City played very well, but it’s always going to be difficult when a top team turn up like they did. We had a game plan, but it didn’t work because I think they were just so good.”

Poyet made a similar reflection in his post-match comments, highlighting Aguero’s performance as a key factor in Sunderland’s inability to live with a side they had beaten in their four previous meetings on Wearside.

The Sunderland head coach also cited fatigue as a mitigating factor in the wake of Saturday’s herculean defensive effort against Chelsea, so changes can be anticipated tomorrow.

Wes Brown will return to the back four with Sebastian Coates unable to face his permanent employers, and Adam Johnson should also be available after he missed Wednesday’s defeat with a muscular problem.

Steven Fletcher is a doubt for the weekend though, having sustained a second-half back injury that curtailed his involvement against Manchester City.

“The manager just told us not to allow this (the Man City defeat) to affect us too much,” said Buckley. “It was a bad result for us, especially with being at home, but we came up against a very good Man City side who were bang on form. We weren’t quite at our best, so it was always going to be difficult to get anything out of the game.

“Aguero got them right back in it as soon as we scored, and I think that was a big blow for us. He was on form all night, and it’s difficult for the lads at the back to contain someone like that. He’s one of the best players in the world.”

Aguero’s display certainly caught the eye, with the Argentinian scoring two goals and setting up another as he took his tally for the season to 19 goals in 16 starts in all competitions.

While Diego Costa and Eden Hazard have been in fine form with Chelsea, and Alexis Sanchez has made a superb start to his Arsenal career, Aguero has been the stand-out performer in the opening third of the Premier League season, with his team-mates insisting he is every bit as good as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who tend to dominate discussions about the identity of the best player in the world.

“He is one of the best strikers in the world at the moment, I have no doubt about this,” said Manchester City full-back Pablo Zabaleta. “I have known him for a long time, but it is probably the best moment of his whole career.

“Everything he does right now looks so quick and sharp, and clinical. He is working really hard for the team off the ball, and that is also something you have to appreciate from Sergio because the strikers normally want to play only with the ball.

“Sergio is doing that, but he is also working really hard for the team off the ball and I think that has been great. We are very lucky to have Sergio in the team.”