Dick Advocaat: ‘Ellis Short not to blame for Sunderland’s poor start’

Sunderland’s nightmare start to the 2015-16 Barclays Premier League campaign continued as they succumbed 3-1 to Norwich City at the Stadium of Light.

Russell Martin, Steven Whittaker and Nathan Redmond all scored as Norwich City comprehensively beat sorry Sunderland 3-1.

Sebastian Coates admits Sunderland have lost the determination whch propelled the club to safety last season.

Advocaat is expected to boost the squad with several more summer signings.

He said: “We were probably arguing more about that after the game than losing last week, so I think it just shows how we go about our business and the standards we expect from each other, and that’s a positive thing”. I felt sorry for them last Saturday.

Asked if the first two games had thrown up more questions than answers, Advocaat said: “A lot of questions”.

Dick Advocaat has called a team meeting for this morning and Carver, speaking on Goals on Sunday, said the players need to take responsibility. All too often, there was no one closing down the Norwich player is possession of the ball, no one tracking opposition runners into the penalty area.

Advocaat remains keen to add a creative midfielder and striker to his squad before the transfer deadline a fortnight tomorrow, although his side’s defensive failings against Leicester and Norwich have highlighted the need for reinforcements in the back four.

The convincing nature of their victory over Sunderland left a smile on the face of Neil however, who praised his side’s “cutting edge” in the win.

“I pick the team that I think is best suited to the game”.

Why go for two forwards when you have have little to no creativity behind them? “We felt last week we’d done quite well but the bottom line is you’ve got to get results, and that’s what we’ve done”.

Yann M’Vila could make his debut for Sunderland, but they are without Jordi Gomez and Adam Johnson, with the latter set to miss up to seven weeks of action because of a shoulder injury. “His game’s improving and he works really hard at it, so he deserves what he get”. Sunderland defended the short corner to the Irish winger appallingly and as if it was a meaningless pre-season friendly.