Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce was left buoyed by the performances of his January signings in the 1-0 defeat against Manchester City on Tuesday night.

Defenders Lamine Kone and Jan Kirchhoff started the game at the Stadium of Light whereas Wahbi Khazri was a second-half substitute and impressed with his creativity.

Of the trio, Allardcye said on the club's official website: "We need to maintain this level going into our next games. The new lads performed very well today.

"[Jan] Kirchhoff is a class player on the ball, he's very intelligent. He sees passes that not too many players see.

"[Lamine] Kone is a proper defender, he's done the job tonight and the fans loved it when Yaya Toure bounced off him.

"It's difficult to come to a foreign country and go straight into the side, but those lads produced the performance we wanted from them tonight.

"[Wahbi] Khazri was impressive with his delivery of set-pieces when he came on."