Tony Mowbray gives this honest assessment of his Sunderland tenure so far and what's next

Mowbray takes charge of his tenth game as Sunderland boss against Burnley on Saturday afternoon, another difficult contest in which his side will be operating without a recognised striker.

The head coach is encouraged by what he has seen so far but insists he is still in the very early stages of his work on Wearside.

"I really like the players and as I keep telling them, as long as they work hard and apply themselves to what we ask them to do, I'll give them everything back in support and hopefully in confidence as well," he said.

"The way I manage, it's about the collective but developing these cultures and values takes a lot longer. It takes longer for the players to understand what it is you want from them. As we move forward, I hope a truer identity of the football we want to play comes forward. I feel settled here and the support has been great, everyone here wants the club to do well and you feel the burden of that.

"I've tried to temper expectations a bit, we've just come from League One and I think we should be happy to be really competitive and I think we are - the evidence was there the other night against a team who went top after beating us. The result could easily have gone the other way.

"So we have to keep going, working hard, and earning results as we go along. We need the fans onboard to keep supporting the team as they have done, to help us win games. It's been a difficult period for us without the strikers and there's no guarantee that the goals will start flying in once they're back, but I've had one game with the two of them and we scored three.

"All I want from the players is honesty and hard work, and then we build the culture and values as we go along," he added. I'm sure we'll have good days in the future, and how quickly they come is of course the question. As long as the fans see the journey we're on and what we're trying to do, they'll stick with us.

"The parachute payments have made this division have made it harder and harder for a team just to roll through this division, it creates a huge gulf between a team newly-promoted and newly-relegated. It doesn't mean you can't compete, and if you get it right you can punch well above your weight.

"We have to do that this year, be really competitive, and then we can look forward and build over the next transfer windows. You grow the club and then reach a point where before a ball has been kicked, people are looking to Sunderland as one of the stronger sides. I'm confident that we are on the right track, that when we get all the components together [strikers], we're going to win enough games to make it an exciting, enjoyable season."

Mowbray has three wins, three draws and three defeats from his time in charge so far.