Sunday 16 August 2015 08:20, UK
Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson accused Sunderland of a lack of desire in their 3-1 defeat to Norwich.
Merson was on the Soccer Saturday panel to watch Sunderland succumb to a two-goal home reverse to the newly-promoted Canaries just one week after they lost 4-2 at Leicester.
And the former Arsenal winger thinks Sunderland could quickly find themselves in a relegation dogfight if players do not show a greater level of commitment.
"They're all over the place," Merson said on Soccer Saturday.
"I've been in teams where you're getting well beaten at home and the crowd are on your back - and it isn't nice. You've got to show a bit about you and today if any of those players said 'could I go off?', they would have all gone off."
He added: "(Costel) Pantilimon made one mistake for the last goal but bar that, he's been very good.
"I watched them last week and it was bad. It was much worse today. Much worse, really bad. Fans were leaving 37 minutes into the game when the second goal went in."
Merson does not feel the players are giving their all for manager Dick Advocaat.
He continued: "No disrespect to Norwich, but they’ve absolutely rinsed Sunderland.
"At the moment, they're (Sunderland) all over the place, never looked like winning any of the games and when I always look at games, they don't look like they're running around for the manager like they were last year. That's my opinion."
Duncan Watmore came on as a 69th-minute substitute to make his Premier League debut. The 2014/15 U21 Premier League Player of the Year scored a consolation goal in the 87th minute, and Merson thought he put in a very impressive performance.
"Watmore came on and the crowd went mental," he said.
"He was so enthusiastic. He was running and closing people down, he was running past his own players to close people down. He tried to take people on and sometimes there isn't a fear factor for young kids and then he gets his goal. So pleased for the kid - good when he came on."
