Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs has urged his teammates to be honest with each other and take collective responsibility for the club's poor start to the Premier League season.
Tottenham's win against Coventry on Monday night left the Black Cats at the bottom of the top tier, and Roefs believes the squad must act quickly to reverse their fortunes.
Roefs rejects individual praise
The Dutchman refused to accept individual praise after another strong performance that kept the score down in Sunday's 2-0 loss to Bournemouth. Roefs admitted Sunderland had already thrown away valuable points this season, singling out the opening-day defeat against Ipswich Town as a result that should never have happened.
When asked what needed to change and what message he would send to concerned supporters, Roefs stressed the importance of hard work and honesty within the dressing room.
"We need to put the work in every day to make sure we turn this around and be honest with each other," he told reporters. "Also keep the spirits up."
Team effort over individual displays
The 23-year-old was subsequently asked about his own performance, having produced another encouraging individual display despite Sunderland's collective struggles.
"Well, obviously I don't care about this, it's just a team," Roefs replied. "I don't think anyone can walk off the pitch and say I was amazing. It's just a team effort. It's not about me. It's not about our right-back, our left winger having a good game. It's about the team.
"We all know this. We just need to step it up and make sure next week we turn it around."
Early season struggles
Sunderland have endured a difficult opening to the campaign after last season's remarkable seventh-place finish, which secured European qualification for the first time in more than five decades.
Roefs believes there is little value in becoming overly concerned with the Premier League table at such an early stage, even if he acknowledged that Sunderland had already been responsible for some of their own problems.
"Obviously we didn't have the easiest games, but we just gave away too many points against Ipswich, which we should have never lost," he explained.
"At the end, we're just six or seven games in, so we shouldn't look to the table too much. It's about the last game where we are at.
"Last season we had a flying start and we went out so good. After that we struggled a little bit so it's all going in swings. Obviously it's clear that we didn't start as we wanted and it's up to us to really put our heads together and step it up."
Roefs acknowledged that expectations have risen following last season's success, but he noted the squad knew this season would be different.
