SAM ALLARDYCE wants a Sunderland team capable of bringing the best out of the fans at the Stadium of Light after admitting some players are struggling to deal with the demands of a Wearside crowd.

Allardyce can remember when Peter Reid was in charge when heading to the North-East to face the Black Cats was a daunting task.

He was in charge of Bolton at the time and recalls having to come up with a way to prevent Sunderland from utilising the little and large combo of Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn in attack.

But visiting the Stadium of Light has become a much easier proposition for Premier League teams in recent years, highlighted by a woeful record that goes far beyond the one win from five in this campaign.

With the turn of the year approaching and a third anniversary coming up, it is a sign of Sunderland’s malaise that they have won just 12 of their 53 league games at home since the turn of 2013.

Martin O’Neill, Paolo di Canio, Gus Poyet and Dick Advocaat all have a go at addressing the slump – and now it is Allardyce’s turn.

After enjoying a euphoric win over Newcastle last time around, the former West Ham boss hopes that will continue when Southampton head to the region this afternoon as he looks to improve fortunes at the Stadium of Light.

"There's a fear factor,” said Allardyce, aware that Sunderland have also won just seven home games in two years going into today. “Some of the players can feel slightly intimidated by the size of the crowd here and how it reacts sometimes.

“It's a scenario where if you give them all you've got they'll support you. But if you don't give them all you've got, they'll see that and they'll boo you.

“When they don't get what they're paying for they get on the players’ back and some of the players can't cope with that. They crumble mentally. The fear factor comes in.

“You've got to overcome that by being psychologically brave enough to accept that. We need to talk about the mental ability players need at this level. The mental strength required is massive.

“To succeed at this level, mental ability is far more important than physical ability because it's a huge, constant pressure you have to get used to.”

Allardyce does not think it is merely a Sunderland problem. He said: "At Manchester United they're not seeing what Fergie used to dish up so they're becoming a little disgruntled. They've kept four clean sheets though - I'd be happy with that. If we score one goal and keep clean sheets I'll be happy!"

But improving how his own players approach home dates is of more immediate concern.

He said: "The squad's not mentally lazy, it's mentally fragile. A player can be very fragile about how much criticism he can take and sometimes a manager can relieve some of that pressure from him by getting up to some of the old tricks we all get up to - but we won't go there just yet.”

After taking over from Advocaat last month he was playing catch up, having not had a summer or pre-season to work with the team.

That is why he used Thursday’s team photo call at the Stadium of Light as an opportunity for his players to train there. In an ideal world he would have his players training on the pitch more regularly, in a bid to overcome that fear factor.

"It's always a bit of a problem with the groundsman,” he said. “We've got a set of brand new lights to keep the pitch warm and the grass on it growing all year round but me trudging on it every now and then will ultimately affect the surface.

"If I'd been here from the start of the season we'd have trained on that pitch before every home game until the weather started turning so we got familiar with it.

“When the weather's still good and the grass is growing naturally you can do that for two days before a game without affecting the pitch too much. But now - if we don't have a decent surface, Arsene (Wenger) complains we've done it on purpose.

"But it's familiarity (training in stadium) people feel more comfortable in familiar circumstances and it would help."