Sunderland boss Jack Ross believes that momentum has a tendency to shift in the opposite direction quickly and so his team cannot let last weekend's loss to Burton Albion overshadow all the good work they have done so far.
Last week's 2-1 loss against Burton was the Black Cats' first in League One after remaining unbeaten in seven matches since the start of the season.
Ross insists that the result was disappointing for his team and after two seasons of negativity just one result like that can shift all the momentum in the opposite direction.
And so the 42-year-old manager has told his players not to let the loss damage all the good work they have done and go out and get back to winning ways against Rochdale on Saturday.
"It’s natural when you’ve had a couple of really bad seasons", Ross said, while answering a question in a press conference on whether the ghosts from the pre-season could come back to haunt Sunderland.
"It’s not just the players, it’s everyone at the club who feels it. Momentum can switch very quickly and shift in the opposite direction very quickly.
"I’m not downplaying the significance of a defeat or how hurt we feel.
"But you have to balance that by not letting it mask all of the good work we’ve been doing in a whole number of areas at the club."
Ross also explained his view that Sunderland's good start meant that expectations were ahead of where they would otherwise have been.
"We probably started as well as we could have hoped and that probably accelerated expectations.
"That doesn’t mean the defeat is a good thing, but it just levels where we are at this moment and shows what we need to do to get out of this league.
"We don’t have any divine right to do that and we’re learning that very quickly."
In spite of last Saturday's loss, Sunderland are placed fourth in the League One table with 15 points from eight games.
