Dick Advocaat was positive on Wearside on Tuesday night despite Sunderland's 4-1 defeat to Manchester City.
The Black Cats exited the League Cup in disappointing fashion, with calamitous individual errors again plaguing their performance, especially defensively. However, the manager remains upbeat about the situation, one which has put pressure on him at the helm.
Defence again the problem
Sunderland have now conceded 20 goals in their opening eight games in all competitions, and are yet to keep a clean sheet this season. It's the fourth time they have conceded three or more goals in a fixture, and is especially worrying considering the club acquired the services of four new defenders in the transfer window.
Speaking to Shields Gazette about his back line on Tuesday, Advocaat admitted that he "was not happy" with "the way" his team conceded, saying they "gave the goals away" and that it was "not the first time" he has been disappointed with this aspect of the team's performance this campaign.
Continuing, the manager believes "it makes no sense to name names" when discussing the errors committed, as "everyone could see" what he described as "simple mistakes" and there is no need to shame the players further, as they know they are at fault.
Still, he was not as frustrated as he was on Saturday after his team lost 2-0 to Bournemouth, saying he was "more angry" at the weekend because the Cherries and Manchester City "are totally different in quality," with the league-leaders and their star-studded squad arguably the best in the country right now.
Plenty of positives but no luck
Despite the defending, Advocaat was pleased with other areas of his team's performance, saying that "the way [they] played in the first 25 minutes" was "very positive," even though City had a 2-0 lead by this point.
When the visitors were a goal to the good, Sunderland "had a good chance to score" and equalise, with Fabio Borini finding the back of the net, only for the goal to be softly disallowed for a foul.
With this, the manager believes that the luck "is not rolling [his side's] way" right now, and "at a certain moment, that will change."
Advocaat contined, saying that this lack of fortune was seen on Saturday at Bournemouth, when Jeremain Lens had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside. This was just another example of how "everything is going the opposite way" for his Black Cats.
Still, he praised his team for their second half performance, with them able to stop the game becoming a rout, despite it being 4-0 at the break. Ola Toivonen bagged his first goal for the club to grab a consolation, whilst City were unable to add to their lead as the hosts showed greater organisation and tactical discipline.
No luck with the fixtures either
Winless in the league, Sunderland will be kicking themselves for not taking advantage of a comfortable run of fixtures with which they opened the campaign as they prepare for some tough games.
The likes of Norwich City, Aston Villa and Bournemouth are teams that the Black Cats should be beating, but, having failed to do so, they will have to overcome either Manchester United, at Old Trafford, or an in-form West Ham United if they want to secure their first Premier League victory of the season before next month's international break.