Simon Grayson says Sunderland must be harder to beat if they hope to return to winning ways at Ipswich Town.
The Black Cats boss pulled no punches in his pre-match press conference, but he refused to be too disheartened and backed his players to climb the Sky Bet Championship table.
On Tueday evening Grayson will come up against former Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy who has overseen a mixed – but overall positive – start to the season.
And speaking to safc.com, Grayson backed his players to kickstart their season at Portman Road.
“Ipswich have had a decent start so far but they’ve lost four out of their last five games,” said Grayson.
“They’re a team that highlight what the Championship is all about – you can win games and you can go on runs of losing them – so we have to go there and get our season back underway.”
He continued: “We haven’t had many breaks go our way but we’re not going to use that as an excuse.
“We have to do the basic fundamentals better and be harder to beat, and we have to grind out a result out because that will lead to more positive results.
“There are still 37 games to go – 111 points to play for – nothing is lost in September.
“The table isn’t good for us right now but there’s a long way to go.”