Stoke boss Tony Pulis:
"We now begin to look to next season - in fact, we have already started. I'm off to look at some games this week and other members of the management team are abroad this weekend.
"We want to get cracking as quickly as possible. There are players who have contract offers on the table and now it's up to them to get back in touch with us.
"Looking at our season overall, there's no doubt it went a bit flat at the end. But we have finished in the top half of the table and I think the players put in a lot of effort to get there."
Sunderland: Alnwick, Wright, Breen (Neill Collins 82), Caldwell, McCartney, Lawrence, Whitehead, Robinson, Arca, Stewart (Welsh 83), Brown (Elliott 71).
Subs Not Used: Carson, Deane.
Goals: Robinson 57.
Stoke: Simonsen, Henry (Halls 74), Duberry, Taggart, Clarke, Greenacre, Brammer, Russell, Buxton, Noel-Williams (Paterson 60), Jones (Ricketts 73).
Subs Not Used: de Goey, Neal.
Att: 47,350