Chris Coleman has ruled out bringing in any free agents to bolster his Sunderland squad as they continue to scrap it out at the wrong end of the Championship table.

The Black Cats sit just one place and one point off the foot of the Championship table and a second successive relegation is now becoming a serious reality.

Sunderland are very much within touching distance of safety, Barnsley sit two points better off and just outside of the bottom three, but Saturday’s home defeat to Ipswich has piled further pressure on the north east outfit.

Coleman stepped in to replace Simon Grayson on November 19 but he has overseen just three wins from his 13 Championship games at the helm.

The former Wales boss drafted in five additions to his squad last month with loanees Lee Camp, Ovie Ejaria and Ashley Fletcher all starting in Saturday’s defeat, while Kazenga Lua Lua was on the bench and Jake Clarke-Salter missing out through injury.

Reports have suggested that Coleman was considering bringing in some free agents outside of the window to further boost his squad, but he insists that is not the case and has stressed the need for his current crop to drag them out of the drop zone.

“There’s only us that can change it, there’s only us that can change the results,” Coleman said.

“There’s no-one else coming in, no new players coming in. “We’ve got what we’ve got, and it’s up to us to change it somehow.”