Dick Advocaat says Sunderland will stay up despite Bournemouth loss
Saturday 19 September 2015 19:54, UK
Boss Dick Advocaat is refusing to accept his side are in a relegation battle after Sunderland slumped to their fourth defeat of the season, leaving them rooted to the bottom of the Premier League.
Sunderland could not recover from conceding twice inside the first 10 minutes as they went down 2-0 to Eddie Howe's side to leave them winless after six matches for the third consecutive season.
Advocaat is convinced Sunderland can bounce back after taking just two points from their first six games but the Dutchman emphasised his side need to start doing things differently
"I am sure that we will stay up but we cannot wait longer than now," Advocaat said.
"I don't see it in the home game's but in the away games we leave it too late and there is no sharpness and we give goals away.
"We have to wonder - myself included - what we are doing wrong because we work hard in training.
"So both sides, me as the manager, and the players, have to work out what has gone wrong in the last six games. We have to look in the mirror.
"I know we have a difficult away game again in Manchester United [next week] but we have to start now otherwise we will make it difficult for ourselves.
"After six games two points is not enough. It's simple, now we must do things in a different way."
Advocaat saw Younes Kaboul sent off as his side picked up six yellow cards in total, while Jeremain Lens had a second-half header incorrectly ruled out for off-side.
"It is better not to judge other people like the linesman or the referee," Advocaat said.
"We have to look to ourselves. We started totally hopelessly in the first half and we need to find out the reason. To point the finger at other people makes no sense."
