They certainly seem to be queuing up at the moment to put the knife into our next opponents but when that criticism comes from within then you know just how bad things have got and that is what is happening at Sunderland.

Rooted to the bottom of the Premier League after just two games there have been crisis talks already at the Stadium of Light for a side that has struggled for the past few seasons but have always saved themselves towards the back end of the season.

But this time it feels different as there - certainly from the outside - seems to be really deep rooted problems at Sunderland that are contributing to the form on the pitch. The fans are calling for the owners to spend some money and of course we had the mini saga on whether the manager would or would not retire back in the summer.

And those problems have become evident in the first two games of the season, a 4-2 defeat to Leicester and a 3-1 defeat to Norwich have been met with widespread criticism as to how bad Sunderland have been and that cannot fill anyone in the North East with any confidence that they will turn this around in a hurry.

Lee Cattemole is still very much part of the Sunderland team but he was pulling no punches when he looked back at why the performances had been so bad.

"We've been beaten two weeks in a row by teams that I believe we look better than," Cattermole said.

"Do you put that down to commitment and effort? I think a lot of it comes down to that, and there should be no excuse why you don't get that from us. There's no hiding place, and we need to do better.

"There are two sides to the game, and you have to do the ugly side as well. If you're getting beat, and you're conceding the goals that we're getting beaten by, then it's because you're not defending and shutting people down well enough."

Photo: Action Images

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