Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole is at a loss to explain why his side have made such a disastrous start to the Premier League season.

The Black Cats followed up an opening day 4-2 defeat at Leicester by losing 3-1 at home to newly-promoted Norwich and they currently sit bottom of the standings after the opening two matches of the campaign.

The Wearsiders were 2-0 down after just 37 minutes of the clash against the Canaries, with many of the supporters choosing to leave the ground at half time after seeing their side fail to perform.

Skipper Cattermole admitted that the team must respond quickly if they are going to avoid another relegation battle and he revealed that he is baffled as to why his side fell apart so badly at the Stadium of Light.

He said: “We need to look for a response quick and we need to find something quick. Whatever it is that we are missing we need to find it. I thought we started the game okay. We were competitive but we lost the goal and as a team we fell apart at times and it was not good enough.”

The Black Cats’ early season woes are somewhat surprising after they finished the last campaign with only one defeat in their last six league matches, and the 27-year-old confirmed that the team seem unrecognisable from the one that earned survival.

He continued: “We are conceding goals out of nothing at the moment. We were hoping that we would start the season the way we ended last season but we are almost unrecognisable at times and that is the disappointing thing.”

Dick Advocaat’s side will now be hoping for a response in their next league match at home to Swansea next Saturday and they are available at 3.50 to secure a first victory of the campaign, while the Jacks are on offer at 2.15 and the draw is a 3.10 shout.