Fulham manager Álvaro Arbeloa knows improvements are needed if his Fulham side are to have a successful season in the Premier League.
It was a relatively even contest on the whole in Sunderland on Sunday afternoon, but a greater cutting edge from the hosts saw them eke out a 1-0 win.
“It wasn't our game, for sure,” our Head Coach admitted.
“We were far from our level.
We were talking during the half-time, that obviously you can have some bad days or even come here in a difficult stadium against a European team, and maybe you have a bad day with the ball, like it was in the first half, but you need to put more energy, better attitudes, better mentality.
“So, we improved during the first 20-25 minutes of the second half, but then we concede a [shot off the] post, and four minutes later the goal. So yes, we need to improve in many things of our game, soon.
“And the first thing is that we need to know what you have to do to win games – put more energy and, like I said, better mentality and attitude as a team. And yes, we need to demand more from ourselves.”
A further frustration was that Sunderland had given us a warning sign shortly before the goal when Wilson Isidor struck the post, with the forward making no such mistake soon after when presented with a similar chance.
“The first one was after we lost the ball.
We know that we need to control the counter attacks, especially from the people that is far from the ball.
“And yes, the next one we try to press, and you need to be aware and keep the line, and try to block the runners.
I know it's not easy, but when you press higher you are taking some risks, that we want to take, and we need to defend much better in those situations.”