It may have taken Sunderland an eternity to confirm Alex Neil's appointment, but the new head coach needed less than 36 hours in post to get a handle on the task ahead of him.
"If we want to be in the mix come the end of the season, we have got a lot of work to do," he said, after watching his side labour to a grim 1-1 draw at relegation candidates AFC Wimbledon.
He added: "To get to where we want to be, we have to be better than we were today."
