Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe has insisted that his side's poor start to the campaign has little to do with the characters in the dressing room.
The Black Cats have yet to win a game in seven attempts to find themselves rooted to the foot of the Premier League table, continuing the theme from recent campaigns when starting slowly before later recovering.
With fellow strugglers Stoke City, who sit just one point above Sunderland following a shaky opening couple of months, to come this weekend, Defoe knows that victory will be enough to finally get the ball rolling.
"The spirit here has always been good to be honest," he told Chronicle Live. "There are some good characters here and whenever new players come in, you have got to try to get them involved in the group.
"That [lack of spirit] is not the problem. It has always been good and at the end of the day, you have to remain positive because the games are so important.
"Every game is so difficult, home or away, compared to when I first started. It is important that the whole team sticks together, like we did last season towards the end, then you will be fine."
Following Saturday's key clash with Stoke, Sunderland take on West Ham United, Arsenal and Bournemouth in the coming weeks.
