Yann M'Vila believes that Sunderland's crisis meeting was important for the team.

M'Vila joined the Black Cats on loan from Rubin Kazan earlier this month, but his debut was hardly a dream one as the team lost 3-1 at home to Norwich City.

This followed a 4-2 defeat to Leicester City the week before and these results against poor teams, combined with the manner of the losses, provoked manager Dick Advocaat, and those above him, to organise a meeting with the team where they discussed the problems so far this season.

Sunderland have to accept situation and deal with problems

Speaking to the Sunderland Echo, M'Vila stated that the club needed to come to terms with the issues ongoing if they are to fix them, as "you can't just say 'it's not bad,'" you have to concede that "it is" and then decide to "get going and work hard for each other."

The midfielder believes that, whilst it is "easy to applaud and say everything is alright" and "much harder to talk about things and what you did wrong," the meeting was important because it's crucial "to raise your concerns" when the team are underperforming.

He added that "it's good to talk" and "to speak about the difficulties."

Building from the back

The meeting was "very good," according to M'Vila, and the manager used it to "[stress] that above all else, [the team] need to be defensively solid before [they] attack."

Sunderland have shipped seven goals in just two games, many of which came from a lack of positional discipline or individual errors. M'Vila acknowledges this, saying that the goals came because the Black Cats "made [their] own problems as a team" by making "too many mistakes" and thus giving "the other team the chance to score."

As well as this, the loanee stressed that "football is a game played in the head, above all," saying that "if you are always strong in the head, then you're going to lose fewer games." Therefore, he believes that it is imperative that the team "must be constantly concentrating" as it could be just "one or two steps to get in a better position which makes the difference in defending a goal."

Relating this to a game situation, the Frenchman said, "if one of [his] teammates goes forward," he must be thinking, "what do I have to do?" If the team "communicate and concentrate" then they can improve and "prevent the goals" and "the mistakes."

Swansea game is for the fans

Sunderland face Swansea City on Saturday, looking for their first points of the season. They will welcome the Swans to the Stadium of Light, hoping for improvements, particularly in front of their own fans, who have endured a tough start to the new campaign from the stands.

M'Vila recognises this, saying that the supporters have "seen [the team] concede too many goals in the last two matches." He and his teammates are keen to make amends for this, saying that they "need to put in a performance" at the weekend for them, "because they're [the team's] family."

The Black Cats will welcome Swansea to Wearside for a 15:00BST kick off on Saturday afternoon.