Tony Mowbray's interesting verdict on how Sunderland have improved this season - and what's next

Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray believes his side have shown they can become a better team this season even after the summer departures of Ross Stewart and Amad.

The Black Cats suffered a disappointing 4-0 loss to Middlesbrough last weekend following a controversial red card shown to Dan Neil with the scores still level, but generally speaking it has been a positive start to the new campaign.

Sunderland sit fourth after 11 games, recovering strongly from a poor start where they lost back-to-back games despite what Mowbray felt were a pair of good performances.

Though Stewart missed much of last season, his prolific form either side of those two serious injuries were key to Sunderland's eventual points haul. Amad was a genuine matchwinner during his loan from Manchester United, finishing the season with 12 goals.

So far Sunderland have managed to maintain their goalscoring form without the duo, and Mowbray believes that is down the experience many of his players have gained.

"Our team, I just think, are more experienced," Mowbray said before the Middlesbrough clash last week.

"They understand the demands of what's put on them, the recruitment of players like Bellingham which gives us flexibility to play different ways, Ekwah has grown into the football club, O'Nien, we've secured a place and position for him where he excels, Clarke has grown, Roberts has grown, lots of the footballers because of the games they've played in this division have the confidence and belief now to know they can compete in the league.

"Trai Hume didn't start when I was here. I remember him coming in and asking if he was going to get an opportunity. Now he looks a real high quality footballer. He's not the only one. Ballard was injured when I was here.

"Ross Stewart only played seven games for me so I can't sit here and say he was unbelievable, I only saw him play seven times, so it's not as if I miss him loads because I never had him."

The week previous, Mowbray outlined the benefits of the club's pre-season trip to the US.

While there were concerns of Sunderland heading into the season under prepared as a result of the limited opposition, Mowbray does feel the games helped him improve the team's attacking structure in challenging conditions.

"I think our positional play has improved this season," he said.

We did pre-season in an oven, really, and yet we played against that weren't of the standard we were going to face in the Championship.

"What that did give us was the confidence and belief to play in a certain way, to keep our midfielder players high and to keep our wingers really wide. It helped with our in-possession agenda, and I'm pleased with the way we move the ball and have threats from all over."

Mowbray hopes that his team will be able to kick on again after the break, with a number of players expected to be closer to full fitness, and has hinted at more rotation and tactical flexibility as a result.

“At some stage, we have to integrate the new players,” he said.

"We have to integrate Hemir and Nazariy Rusyn at some stage, and with three games in a week, we will give Mason a rest at some point and someone else will get a go.

“We’ll look at different ways of playing as well. There will be times where we play with two up front. We have to keep developing our team so that we can play in different ways.”