Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat is confident the players are responding to his methods.

Advocaat had only had a few days to work with the players he inherited. But he says he has concentrated on organising the side and ensuring that each player knows his responsibilities.

"It is always better if you start at the beginning of a season because then you can put all of your ideas in," he said. "But in terms of organisation, it is not that difficult to bring the players into step, so that everybody knows what to do.

"They have to do that. If we are to going to win games, they have to do that.

"The organisation is the most important thing in football, then you can add in the individual skills of the players."