Dick Advocaat: 'We need to be more physical'

Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat has called on his side to improve the level of their physicality ahead of their trip to Stoke City this week.

The Black Cats were hammered 4-1 at the Stadium of Light in their last Premier League outing by Crystal Palace as they conceded all four strikes within minutes of each other in the second half.

Advocaat has pinpointed improving his side's toughness as a crucial element towards their survival chances this season.

He told the club's official website: "We can't complain. We must improve and we need to be ready when we play Stoke City. "We have to think about last week's game and we can't just ignore it. You can see that we're missing things and we need to be a lot more physical.

"We don't have a game this weekend and other teams do, so we'll know their results but we can't think about that; we need to do what we need to. There's six games to go, starting with Stoke City next."

Sunderland are 16th in the Premier League, just one point clear of the relegation zone.