Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat was upbeat despite defeat to West Ham United.
Diafra Sakho struck late on for the Hammers winner.
Advocaat told SAFSEE: "For me the players did very well today; I thought they worked their socks off.
"We looked better and we've still got some players to come back into the squad.
"Tactically I thought we did well, as we didn't give many chances away to a team that are very difficult to play against.
"We went close [to taking something from the game], but obviously not close enough."