Moyes: I'm under pressure, but so is Pep



Sunderland manager David Moyes says he is under pressure to turn around their poor Premier League form, but it is no different for coaches at the other end of the table.
Sunderland are the only team in the English top flight without a victory and are rooted to the foot of the table, with two points from their opening eight games. They are already four points adrift of safety.
"I spoke with a lot of supporters this week. I think they understand what's required. The bigger pressure is from you boys (the media). The supporters have been excellent," Moyes told reporters on Friday.
"There's pressure on every manager to get points, whether you're Sunderland or you're Pep at Man City. I've been at the other end, too -- I know what it's like."
Sunderland visit 15th-placed West Ham United at the London Stadium on Saturday and Moyes has urged his players to be more ruthless.
"I think we've been really disappointed because we've been close in some games. We've had games where we've been in front and could have picked up points," said Moyes.
"Strangely, if you win one of those games it would look a lot different and we would be talking in a different way. But we've not and that's our fault. We need to cure that and get it better...
"One win would make a massive difference and it would lift confidence and get us much closer to the teams above us. It would give us a chance to start building."
Sunderland chief executive Martin Bain has indicated that manager David Moyes is not in immediate danger of losing his job despite the club's woeful start to the season and backed the Scot's long-term vision.
Sunderland lie rooted at the bottom of the Premier League table on two points from the opening eight games as the pressure mounts on the former Everton and Manchester United boss.
Moyes, who signed a four-year contract when he replaced Sam Allardyce, guided Everton to a top-six league finish four times and built his reputation on getting the most out of a limited squad.
"It's been a turbulent start," Bain, who replaced Margaret Byrne as chief executive earlier this year, told the club's website.
"David is an experienced manager and he is a character. I think he is in the top four most experienced managers in the Premier League in terms of games managed. Fundamentally, that experience, coupled with David's longer term approach.
"He is a builder. He understands the need to win, first and foremost, but in parallel, he understands that the job he has come here to do -- and the job I have come here to do -- is to build, to rebuild really."
Sunderland have flirted with relegation for the past four seasons, with Moyes being the fourth full-time managerial appointment since they sacked Paolo Di Canio in September 2013.
"We can certainly change the future. From both our perspectives it's about rebuilding, let's do the basics right. That's the biggest message I want to get across, we want to get back to basics," Bain added.
Striker Jermain Defoe, who racked up 15 league goals last season to help Sunderland avoid relegation, believes the club had "gone backwards" following Allardyce's departure.
"We're coming into November and you don't want to be getting into a situation at the bottom of the league like we have every year," Defoe said.
"From where we were towards the end of last season, I feel like we've gone backwards a little bit. I don't know why, I can't put a finger on it. We've not hit the levels that we reached towards the end of last season."
Sunderland travel to West Ham United for a Premier League encounter on Saturday.

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