STEVEN FLETCHER is enjoying Sunderland’s improved attacking play but fears it will count for nothing if Sam Allardyce can’t come up with a way to stop the ‘silly mistakes’ at the back.

Allardyce has brought a greater sense of organisation on the pitch since his arrival three games ago but he has still lost two and won just one since taking over.

The difficulty facing the Sunderland boss is that he has to work with a team inherited from the purchasing of his predecessors, until he can dip into the transfer market himself in January.

But Allardyce, keen to give players a chance to prove they have a future on Wearside, has brought signs of promise, particularly going forward.

Fletcher, who has had an indifferent few years in the North-East following a £12m move from Wolves, could not believe the amount of opportunities Sunderland had during Sunday’s 6-2 battering at Everton.

“The amount of chances we got on Sunday was the most I have ever had in a game since I moved to Sunderland,” said Fletcher. “It’s good in that aspect, but we need to keep the door shut at the other end. If I knew how then I’d be a manager. I really don’t know.

“I think it is the silly mistakes that we need to cut out, massively. In the Premier League if you make one mistake then teams will pounce on you. We are creating chances though which is a good thing, hopefully we can stop conceding so many and we will be alright.”

Fletcher scored four minutes after half-time at Goodison Park with a neat header to pull Sunderland level after falling two goals down.

But seven minutes later Sebastian Coates turned into his own net and Everton went on to win at a canter to frustrate the Sunderland manager and his dressing room.

Scotland international Fletcher, who has eight goals this season for club and country, said: “We have improved, we are a lot more organised under this manager.

“He has us going into games with more confidence and it showed at Everton in the first 20 minutes. Had we scored our chances in those early moments we would have been 2-0 up and it would have been completely different. It was frustrating in the end though.”

The seventh defeat from 11 matches leaves Sunderland second from bottom in the Premier League, with the poor form of Newcastle, Norwich and Bournemouth above them keeping them in touch with safety.

A victory over Southampton at the Stadium of Light this Saturday could see Sunderland climb out of the relegation zone, but Allardyce must come up with a way of tightening things up.

That could have been made more difficult after Lee Cattermole suffered a groin injury at Everton, where Sunderland were already without John O’Shea, Younes Kaboul and Fabio Borini.

Fletcher said: “I’m sure we will discuss what went wrong and move on. The first 20 minutes we had chances, Everton’s fans would have been on them but the end result is what counts and that’s why it is so disappointing.”

He added: “It just wasn’t good enough at Everton. We set up in a new formation and it seemed to start well to start with, but once we conceded a goal we sat off them a bit.

“When we got one it put them on the back foot a bit and it looked like we might get something when I scored after half-time. But then we just conceded too quickly.

“Everton played well. They scored some great goals with some great passes. You can’t give a team like that chances because they will score goals.”

One option Allardyce could look to use this weekend is to play Jack Rodwell at centre-back. The former Everton man slotted in there on Sunday in the second half and suggested he will be happy to play there again if asked.

Rodwell’s chances of playing at the back will increase if O’Shea and Kaboul show no signs of improvement as the visit of the Saints nears.