Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is struggling to find answers for their freefall after defeat to West Bromwich Albion.
The Black Cats slipped to a seventh defeat in eight games which left them in 13th place, although still six points clear of the bottom three.
He said: "I sound like a long-playing record, don't I? That sums our last few weeks up, it's exactly the same.
"It's an unbelievable thing, confidence. You can see West Brom, a couple of results go for them and all of a sudden, they are very, very confident in what they are doing compared to us.
"I would have thought Phil's goal would have given everybody a lift, it was a wonderful strike.
"But we went 10, 15, 20 minutes in the second half when we were all over the place again, which cost us.
"The big problem we have got is we can't keep any of them on the pitch for long enough, that's the recurring problem we have got at the moment which he have got to try to overcome."
