Andy Welsh feels Sunderland under-23s still have plenty of work to do as they continue to adapt to their style of play.
The young Black Cats return to Premier League 2 action tonight as they host Derby County at the Stadium of Light, KO 7pm.
Without a league win in their last two games following back-to-back defeats against Manchester City and Liverpool last month, Welsh believes his youthful squad are taking time to find their feet as they continue to work tirelessly at the Academy of Light.
“Last year we had an older team and this year we have integrated a number of the younger ones so it’s possible that results might be a bit more inconsistent,” he said.
“That said, as long as the performance levels are high that’s all we can ask for.
“We have got to get the expectation levels high so that even at this age group they understand it’s all about winning.
“We have worked a lot on what we do when we don’t have the ball because I believe when we do have it we have got a lot of technically gifted players to cause teams problems.”
He continued: “We can link and we can pass but we’ve got to make sure when we don’t have it we all drop into spaces to close up areas on the pitch so teams can’t cause us problems.
“We are slowly getting better at it with each game that goes by but I hope we can continue to improve at it.”
