PUZZLED Gus Poyet has concerns about Sunderland’s slow progress after another lacklustre performance which has led to relegation worries resurfacing on Wearside - again.

Despite an improved second half display against Liverpool, the Black Cats were dreadful for 45 minutes when Lazar Markovic poked in the game’s solitary goal to leave Poyet’s team sitting just a point above the drop zone.

Sunderland, like so often this season, lacked invention in the final third and struggled to break in behind a Liverpool defence prone to conceding goals during a stuttering campaign.

That proved costly, as Poyet had to endure another afternoon when his players failed to secure three points. Sunderland have won just one home game in the Premier League this season and, more alarmingly, boast only three victories from 21 league games.

The Uruguayan, who was without key midfielder Lee Cattermole through injury, could not understand why his team took so long to get going against the Reds.

When asked the reason his players were not in the faces of their opponents? He said: “That was the characteristics of one Sunderland (team). The Kevin Phillips and Quinn (team). The rest of the teams of Sunderland did not have any characteristics. They were rubbish.

“They were playing for relegation and suffering. I am trying something here. But we are miles away to a point that it worries me a little bit.”

Poyet was keen to avoid drawing any sort of comparisons between the ‘rubbish’ teams of previous years and his own side, but thinks lessons can be learned from what has gone wrong in the past.

One of the biggest problems is the lack of goals. Only Aston Villa have scored fewer than Sunderland’s tally of just 18. Steven Fletcher, not passed fit on Saturday, and Adam Johnson are the leading scorers with just four.

“I am just saying what I feel. We have to be realistic,” said Poyet. “Sunderland have been in the top ten once in the last 15 years I think. The rest have been full of bad decisions and suffering.

“One season they had a player who scored 24 goals (Darren Bent) and when that player left, no one has scored more than 15. I could give you all the stats you like, but it is very simple. You cannot go backwards.

Niall Quinn retired a few years ago and Kevin Phillips is a coach at Leicester so we can't go back to that team. We need to find a way together; making the team play in a certain way. We have to be better and more adaptable, more intelligent on the pitch as a team and we are not.”

Sunderland’s shape which they had worked to in the build up to the visit of Liverpool failed to have the desired effect. Markovic and Alberto Moreno’s probing runs down the flanks caused far too many problems, with full-backs Santiago Vergini and Patrick van Aanholt pulled in other areas by attacking midfielders.

Poyet said: “There was confusion. It’s about understanding the game and we need to be flexible. You cannot take things literally. When you go on the pitch things are going to happen and I cannot predict what will happen.

“You don't know if a team will play four in the middle; square across the pitch. You need to adapt. The disappointing thing was we sorted it out at half-time. I was expecting my team to be able to sort it out themselves. That is why I am disappointed.”

Liam Bridcutt’s red card, for two cautions, means he will be missing at Tottenham on Saturday, so the hope will be that Cattermole is fit because he has not trained since the turn of the year.

Poyet, who still hopes for transfer progress to boost his selection options, will strive this week to try to ensure his squad find that winning feeling once again.

Since the memorable victory at Newcastle on December 21, Sunderland have picked up just one point from 12. Poyet said: “Maybe we should play Newcastle every week.”

He added: “I accept we gave away 45 minutes. After that we tried. I cannot ask for any more than that with the personnel we have got.

“I was expecting against Leeds last week (in the FA Cup) for my team to control the game but we didn't. That really made me feel bad. We have no option but to keep going, make it better, with better changes and decisions by me maybe. The players coming back from injury have big, big chances now. I need them. I hope they take them.”