Sunderland’s winless streak has got to come to an end sometime and Tuesday night against Bolton gives us the perfect opportunity to end our sorry run and turn our season around (how many times have we said that over the past months?). But even the most optimistic of Sunderland supporters will find it difficult to muster up enough confidence to think we’ll beat anyone at the moment…least of all a resurgent Bolton side that are coming off the back of a great away win at West Ham on Saturday.

Owen Coyle, the new manager in charge at the Reebok stadium appears to have his side organised and difficult to beat (something that you come to expect from Bolton). You could argue Sunderland have been difficult to beat at home this season as we’ve only lost twice but considering how poor we’ve been playing it’s quite an amazement.

There’s not a lot to be positive about but when you look at our team on paper and compare it with the team’s around us it’s hard to believe we are sitting in the position we are in. Players who looked fantastic at the beginning of the season have all but faded into the background and are looking very, very average. It’s up to those players to drag us out of this mess. We have had our fair share of injuries but with important players now available we need some stability in our first team selection and a vast improvement in our performances.

The game on Tuesday will be a battle, I just hope we turn up and show some fight. The fans haven’t had anything to shout about of late. It would be nice if the players could repay our loyalty with a committed performance against Bolton.