'Sunderland mission to restore confidence'

Being thrashed 8-0 at Southampton shocked Sunderland to the core and rebuilding confidence will take time but Monday's 3-1 win at Crystal Palace was a good start, assistant head coach Mauricio Taricco said.

Taricco told Reuters that luck had also played a part on Monday with Sunderland surviving a strong penalty appeal from Palace in the first minute after Santiago Vergini appeared to bring down Frazier Campbell.

"The last two results, the manner in which we lost hit us all pretty hard and it shows a bit," manager Gus Poyet's right-hand man said of the rout at Southampton two weeks ago followed by a 2-0 defeat at home to Arsenal.

"We had been playing a bit better even than today but it really shocked us all."

The win with two goals from striker Steven Fletcher and one by midfielder Jordi Gomez was a tonic.

Confidence building was now a big a part of the job former Tottenham Hotspur teammates Poyet and Taricco needed to do to move Sunderland further into Premier League mid-table territory.

"It's our task, to get back to the way we were playing at the beginning (of the season) because, without playing very well, without being extraordinary we were always in the game, we didn't give away many goals until the match against Southampton destabilised us," Taricco said.

"No-one expected it, neither the players nor us because we were defending well, giving very little away."

It was Sunderland's second win in 10 league matches but they had only conceded seven goals in seven before the Southampton debacle.

The win at Palace put them 15th with 11 points.

'MORE TIDY'

"Let's hope that after this (Palace) result, the normality we had before returns and the players can play more serenely, more tidy as the English say," Taricco said.

"There's no doubt luck was with us today... it looked to me like Santiago (Vergini) touched (Campbell) a bit," he added of his young compatriot.

Taricco said Sunderland were looking to play a controlled possession game but that the priority first was to get results under their belts.

"At the moment we have to try to get results, be organised, tight and keep giving the players confidence to play football the way we want, with more control, playing the ball out of defence.

"It means being concentrated at all times, doing the football basics at all times, especially in the delicate areas."

Taricco said Monday's match was simply damage limitation because Palace play an aggressive game at their Selhurst Park home looking to reach the wings quickly in the hope the speedy Wilfried Zaha, Yannick Bolasie or Jason Puncheon create something.

"That's their game and in order not to get caught up in it you really have to take the reins of the game and in that sense we still have some way to go," he said.