BILLY JONES admits he has been “embarrassed” by some of Sunderland’s defensive mistakes this season, with the club’s performances forcing him to turn off his television in an attempt to prevent his weekends becoming even worse.

The Black Cats go into Saturday’s game with West Ham United saddled with the worst defensive record in the Premier League, having conceded 16 goals in their opening seven league games.

All goals are clearly avoidable, but a number of Sunderland’s concessions have been especially soft, with defenders making routine errors and midfielders giving up on attempting to track opponents as they make runs into the penalty area.

Dick Advocaat has repeatedly bemoaned his side’s lack of defensive resilience, and as he prepares to take on a Hammers side that have already recorded victories at Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool this season, Jones concedes there have been times when he has been left red-faced by the Black Cats’ failings.

“We know what brought us success as a group last year, but it hasn’t been to the same standard from a defensive point of view,” said Jones, who has started all seven of Sunderland’s Premier League matches. “We’ve conceded far too many goals, and we’re looking at how we can improve that, starting from the front. But it doesn’t help when we’ve been making individual errors.

“We’ve conceded far too many goals this season, and we’re embarrassed and disappointed by that. We’re striving to be solid and get more clean sheets as a collective.”

In the past, an error on a Saturday afternoon might have been forgotten by the end of the night. Now, it is pored over on Match on the Day, examined again on Sky’s Goals on Sunday and the BBC’s Match of the Day Two, and dissected in forensic detail by Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville on a Monday night.

The spotlight has never been more intense, and as someone who prides himself on being extremely self-critical, Jones admits it can be difficult to keep things in perspective when it seems as though everyone is out to highlight your flaws.

As a player, there is a need to confront personal failings and learn from them, hence the regular video analysis sessions that are now commonplace at the vast majority of clubs. But while some will claim Sunderland’s players deserve everything that is thrown at them if they make errors that lead to goals, too much criticism can be damaging unless it is backed up with suggestions of how to improve.

“It’s really, really difficult,” said Jones. “You want to hide behind your pillow if you know you’ve done something wrong. There’s so much pressure in the Premier League now – you make a mistake on the Saturday, and it’s still being highlighted and talked about on the Monday.

“As a player, if you’ve made an individual mistake, you want to draw a line under it and move on as quickly as possible, but that’s sometimes easier said than done. You just want the chance to rectify it on the field.

“I’m fairly self-critical anyway, and if I’ve done something wrong, I’d know that anyway. There are times when I feel like I’ve made a mistake or a bad judgement for a goal, and it hasn’t been highlighted, and I’ve thought, ‘Okay, I’ve got away with that a little bit’. Deep down, though, you still know you’ve done something wrong.

“I know sometimes I can be a bit too self critical, but I think that if you can learn from something and make sure it doesn’t happen again, that’s the way you learn and improve.”

While Advocaat continues to tinker with his back four in an attempt to engineer a defensive improvement, Jones’ position would not appear to be at too much risk ahead of Saturday’s meeting with West Ham.

DeAndre Yedlin’s arrival on loan from Tottenham has increased competition for the full-back slots, but if the American is to make his first Premier League appearance in two days time, it could well be in place of the increasingly error-prone Patrick van Aanholt on the opposite flank.

Having crashed to a 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford last weekend, Saturday’s game kicks off a seven-game run that will also see Sunderland take on West Brom, Newcastle, Everton, Southampton, Crystal Palace and Stoke.

Even at such a relatively early stage of the season, it would be hard to see them surviving if they were unable to win at least a couple of those games.

“As a group, it’s about accepting where we are in the league and saying, ‘We need to do something about it now’,” said Jones. “We don’t want to find ourselves sitting in ten games time and saying, ‘All of a sudden, we’re in really big trouble’.”