Steve Bruce is desperate to rid his club of their "typical Sunderland" tag after seeing an excellent start to the season unravel alarmingly.
The Black Cats head for Manchester City having not won away from home since the opening day of the season and on a run of four successive defeats on the road.
But perhaps more worryingly, they have taken just five points from the last 24 on offer, with three of them coming from a home victory over Arsenal on November 21.
In the meantime, defeats to Wigan, Fulham and Aston Villa, coupled with only a point from lowly Portsmouth's visit to the Stadium of Light, has seen the Black Cats slip to 10th place and off the pace set by the European contenders.
Bruce said: "You are only ever as good as your last game and that's the frustration of football, especially, in my experience, in the Premier League.
"You are going along very, very well... we beat Arsenal a month ago and looked at the fixtures and thought, 'What a great opportunity'. We had a great win against Arsenal and shot ourselves in the foot against Wigan and Fulham in particular."
"Some would say - and a steward told me the other day - that's typical of Sunderland. It's typical, and that's what we have got to try to change.
"I have got to try to change that mentality and that's going to take time. But it is frustrating for us."
