Alex Neil's strong Sunderland message as he reflects on next test and where his side stands

"Not really, no," he said.

It was an alarming 45 for Neil, but equally he knows he is in a position where right now the only thing that really matters is results.

At the same time, he knows the margins for error now are fine and if his team produces a similar level, it could be costly.

So when it is put to him later in the press conference that the visit of Crewe Alexandra is a game his team simply have to win, on home turf and against a side struggling at the bottom, his response is acerbic.

Sunderland need the points, yes, but they cannot afford to expect them.

"We can't have an arrogance about us," he said.

"It's fine when you do your job well and display that arrogance by performing well, but you always have to pay the opposition respect, and then go about your work in a really ruthless way.

"There's no God-given right to beat any team. Do we expect to beat them, do we hope to beat them, do we go into the game with real confidence? 100%, of course we do.

"But we know that if we don't match them in terms of effort, in terms of running, in terms of having a strategy as good if not better than they do, then we will come up short.

"We've already lost recently to Doncaster at home, so the last thing we should be is expecting anything.

"You don't get something from nothing in this game, you need to put a lot of hard work in, you need to suffer on the pitch for it, and you'll then get your just rewards."

Neil is, by his own admission, still managing from game to game.

He has not had much training time with his players, getting a consistent level of fitness across the group has been challenging, and there is a lack of depth in some key positions.

Consistency in selection and performance has therefore been elusive.

There have been encouraging signs and concerning ones, but Neil is confident that the issues on show in that worrying first half against Fleetwood Town have been addressed.

"It's nothing that's going to have any relevance in this game, if that makes sense," Neil said.

"We had a key structural issue that we've resolved, I spoke to a couple of players who were involved in that so we now have an understanding in terms of what we didn't do as well as we should have done.

"Equally, we certainly had a quality issue. Too many simple passes went astray, behind people or out the park.

"What I've spoken regularly with the players about since I got here is doing the fundamentals, the basics well, and we didn't do those anywhere near well enough in that first half.

"To be fair, predominantly they've done that well since I came in here - competed well, passed the ball relatively well."

Though alarmed by that first half, many supporters left the Stadium of Light cautiously encouraged both by Neil's pro-active substitutions and his willingness to call out the performance level afterwards.

That, Neil says, is here to stay whether or not it is always a popular assessment.

Neil spoke openly of still having to be pragmatic from game to game, both as he develops an understanding with his players and as he tries to cover up some shortcomings in his current group.

He feels by and large progress is being made, but clearly there is no room for complacency.

"Against Wigan and Charlton, the performance was pretty good," Neil said.

"I think we played some decent teams and played pretty well, and that's the standard we expect the team to churn out on a regular basis.

"Unfortunately, we fell well short in the first half against Fleetwood. Fans are not stupid, they watch us every week so they know what they expect [which is why I’m honest afterwards].

"I think [over time] we maybe will be a different style than previously.

"I would certainly say that I'm a little more pragmatic in terms of, I don't like passing the ball for the sake of passing the ball.

"If the ball needs to be worked forward, we'll do it.

"Sunderland's biggest success over the years was putting the ball up to Niall Quinn, and Kevin Phillips playing around his feet. "There's nothing wrong with that - if you can get success why wouldn't you do it?

"We want to try and play to our strengths, there are certain games where we need to be patient with the ball and the other night we weren't, so that's something we need to improve on.

"Some of the other games have called for a different style and approach - which we've done particularly well.

"Naturally, there's some teams that are going to be more suited to a certain style than others.

"We understand where our shortcomings are probably are, and we're working hard to fix it through formation, through personnel, and all those bits in between.

"I don't say things to appease anyone, I try to be honest with players and fans.

"If we haven't performed well I'll say it, and if we have performed well, so I know there'll have been frustration after the Charlton game [with the result], but I told the players I was pleased because I believe it."

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