Tony Mowbray makes Middlesbrough point amid Sunderland struggles | OneFootball

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Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray believes the Black Cats need to keep believing in the way they are playing despite their poor form, speaking to the Sunderland Echo.

He pointed towards Middlesbrough's poor form during the early stages of the 2023/24 campaign - and labelled that as a key reason why his team need to keep faith in the process.

Following their play-off semi-final defeat against Coventry City at the end of last term, Boro were expected to come back strongly after performing well for the majority of Michael Carrick's time in charge.

However, they went winless in their opening seven league games, with their points coming against Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday.

Both teams are currently struggling at the wrong end of the Championship table and with this early run of form in mind, it wouldn't have been a massive shock if owner Steve Gibson had decided to pull the trigger.

But they haven't looked back since their home win against Southampton back in September - and even though they have suffered a couple of losses since - they are on the right track as they look to secure another place in the promotion mix after falling at the penultimate hurdle at the end of last season.

The Black Cats started the season reasonably well but have won just two of their last eight league games, losing five matches in this run.

That isn't ideal for the Wearside outfit in their quest to secure another top-six finish - and Mowbray is now starting to come under a bit of pressure despite doing a remarkably good job last season.

What did Tony Mowbray say amid Sunderland's struggles?

Even though the Black Cats are currently in a sticky situation, Mowbray is reasonably calm.

He said: "I'm told that last season we had similar runs - worse runs, actually, winning one in eight and then one in nine - yet we finished really strongly and ended up sixth.

"The league is like that. I'm from Teesside, Middlesbrough didn't win in seven at the start of this season and yet their data was among the best in the division so I knew they'd come good.

"You have to trust in how you are playing."

Should Tony Mowbray remain calm amid Sunderland's struggles?

Considering the Black Cats are still in midtable at this point, that isn't a terrible position for a young side.

They will be disappointed with recent results, but there's no point in Mowbray panicking now.

That's the last thing this young side needs. If they are to get themselves back into better form, they need Mowbray to be calm and he probably will be with the experience he has.

The Wearside outfit clearly have a lot of potential, but there's still inexperience in the squad and they are bound to have poor patches like this.