Sunderland defender Younes Kaboul has heaped praise on manager Dick Advocaat.

The Black Cats held talks after the 3-1 defeat to Norwich City last month in a bid to get their flailing season back on track.

Since that poor result, Sunderland have drawn 1-1 with Swansea City and 2-2 with Aston Villa and Kaboul has indicated that Advocaat's influence has had a lot to do with their return to some semblance of form.

"The boss told us we needed to believe in ourselves and that you have to give everything – the maximum – to get results," said the former Tottenham man.

"We all had our say, of course. Anyone who could say anything to make us better said it.

"I spoke and I was very happy to see that the players could all talk to each other candidly.

"The boss did it to get our spirits back up. He is managing us very well."