AFTER 15 months in charge at the Stadium of Light, Gus Poyet admits he is still miles away from fielding a Sunderland team playing the way he wants after coming under fire from his critics.

The Black Cats head coach leads his side in to a fixture with Burnley this afternoon knowing that a failure to win will leave even more fans restless because of the side’s position towards the foot of the Premier League.

His relationship with the supporters has always been strong but there is no disguising that he annoyed certain supporters with his comments following last weekend’s goalless draw with Fulham in the FA Cup.

The result, at home, was a further indictment of Sunderland’s failings this season having been unable to score in 11 of their 26 matches. They have won just once in the league on Wearside and that led to boos from certain fans during the draw with Fulham.

Poyet suggested that certain fans were living in the past after that result but there will still be more than 45,000 inside the ground to watch Sunderland try to overcome Burnley today.

And he is determined to get results, although rubbished the suggestions he is being negative in setting up his team in the way he does.

The Uruguayan head coach said: “I don't care if there are people saying that, we won games towards the end of last season when people didn't expect us to, playing the way we did.

“At that time those silly people who talk weren't saying that. I listen about what's going on in the world, I know it's Murray v Djokovic in the final on Sunday, but I don't listen to what's said about me.

“If there's a good article I'm not going to be happier or if somebody's killing me I'm not going to get down. I don't have Twitter or Facebook I live my life and do my best and I'm going to be criticised professionally. I do my best.”

Poyet will not bow to pressure to change his ways, but does admit he is determined to get results for Sunderland even if it means accepting his ideal style of play is not being reflected in his team selection.

“I want my team to be there. I want us to pass the ball, go forward and make it difficult and do whatever's needed on the day to win the game,” he said. “I don't want anything more than seeing my team give more than the opposition to win the game.

“I know we're nowhere near what I was expecting or where I was expecting us to be at, at this stage, so I'm not going to expect my team to have total control of the game, control of passing and score four goals and not concede.

“I just want them to show the fans we care and we show that we're not bothered about playing at home. It's up to the players to dictate how far they run and how high they press. I can't do that for them.

“I give them an idea but it has been difficult and we've not achieved what we felt we could do. I'm honest and that's true. I thought at this moment in time we'd be a better team in terms of playing the game, even if it's not in terms of points because we could be fantastic to watch and still not win games but in terms of play we're not there.”

His post-match comments a week ago about the fans wanting Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn back caused a split of opinion. Ahead of his first appearance on the touchline since, Poyet attempted to put things in to perspective again.

“That was a proper comment, it happens everywhere,” said Poyet, who revealed there are no expected ins or outs before the transfer window closes on Monday.

“Because Uruguay won the World Cup in 1930 and 1950 we needed to win the World Cup every time we were going to a World Cup! I'm thinking 'hello'.

“That's where we are. It's no different with Sunderland fans, it's the same with any fans, we always look at what we've done and want to be better than that. I think we should be doing better. But should we be better than that team already, it's difficult to compare.”