Alex Neil insists Sunderland's positive start to their Championship campaign has only made him more determined to strengthen his squad while the going is good. The Black Cats have collected four points from their first two league games, drawing at home Coventry on the opening day and then winning at Bristol City last weekend, to maintain the momentum they built up as they won promotion via the play-offs last term, with their midweek Carabao Cup exit at Sheffield Wednesday a minor inconvennience in the grand scheme of things.
Sunderland have brought in signings over the summer but Neil says his squad remains understrength and has said numerous times that he still needs more new recruits before the transfer window closes at the end of the month. Had Sunderland started badly, there would have been pressure to bring in new signings as a matter of urgency.
But with four points from two games, there could be a temptation to feel that the club could afford to be patient as it chases new arrivals - and Neil says that is a temptation that must be resisted. "Whether you start poorly or whether you start well, it shouldn't create a mad scramble to go out and sign players," he said.
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"We understand and we know that we need to sign players, irrespective of how we have started. I'm a big believer in strengthening when you are doing well and on top, you don't want to get to the point where you are reacting to negativity or where you haven''t done well in a few games - I think that would be bad plannning and bad management.
"At this moment, I would say I am most aggressive in terms of getting things done while everything is going well. I want to maintain it that way. I don't want that drop-off and then we start to react, because sometimes it can be too late.
"I can assure everybody that we are not resting on our laurels."
Sunderland's squad is light on numbers compared to last season, and lacks specialist cover in some areas. With a virtually fully-fit pool of players, Neil has been able to field his strongest possible side in the opening two games, but he knows that cannot last when injuries begin to bite, and that is why he is pushing hard for more new signings.
He said: "What we want is more competition, and we want to strengthen in certain areas. It's the beginning of the season so the bumps and bruises and knocks are at a minimum at the moment.
"The simple fact is that at the moment it might look like everything is fine and rosy but once the window shuts, if I then lose three or four players, you then look and say 'there are key positions now where we might be potentially really light'.
"In my opinion, we can't go into the season in that way. We need to make sure we go into the season as strong possible to give ourselves the best chance of success.
"From my perspective as a manager, once that window shuts, nobody cares - there's your squad, go and win games. So I want to make sure that before the window does shut, we are as strong as we can be."
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