It's certainly been a different start to the season for Sunderland compared to last year, when they flew out of the traps on their Premier League return and went months without a home league defeat. This time around they sit bottom of the pile with four points from seven games. Things were always going to be tough with the additional load of European football to contend with, something Sunderland haven't experienced in over 50 years.
The performance at Bournemouth on Sunday, fresh from an away Europa league clash in Portugal, was littered with mistakes and individual errors. It led to defender Nordi Mukiele suggesting post-match that the team had become "arrogant". That felt like the wrong choice of words from the Frenchman.
I don't detect that mindset, but without doubt the schedule, both mentally and physically, is having an effect. There was a feeling from within the club that those exertions of European football would be challenging this season, and that is playing out in the results. The load has not been helped by concurrent injuries to strikers Brian Brobbey and Wilson Isidor early in the season, meaning the untested Timur Tutyerov has led the line in the last two games - which was not part of the plan at the start of the season.
Sunderland need to get back to basics and the things which made them so hard to beat last season. They only lost four games at the Stadium of Light across that entire campaign, making it something of a fortress. It looked as though that would continue this season after a solid performance at home to champions Arsenal in September, off the back of a narrow win over Fulham.
But the performance in the 2-0 loss to 10-man Brighton has sent alarm bells ringing. I do fully expect them to rediscover those solid foundations on Wearside, with two home games in the next week against Leeds in the league and then Brentford in the Carabao Cup. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player But to do that they need to get back to what they are good at - the snarling, physical, in-your-face, streetwise style that overpowered multiple teams last season.
Without that, they could find themselves in trouble. Perhaps that is what Mukiele means - that they need to get the intensity and aggression back which served them so well last season. They have looked a bit timid at times this season, the complete opposite of their first season back in the Premier League.
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