Sunderland boss Gus Poyet is becoming more comfortable with the quality of his squad.
Poyet is understood to want to make several additions - but he does not believe the squad he has inherited is as bad as it first appeared.
He said: "It is difficult to place it - I cannot say they are the 14th best squad in the Premier League or the 18th best.
"What I'm sure of is we are on a par with any team below, say, the bottom 13. I don't think we are necessarily any better or any worse than any of those bottom seven sides in the division.
"So I don't think there is too much in it when it comes to the difference in the squads at the bottom of the table.
"We are where we are, and we need to improve.
"The good thing is there is not much difference between the bottom half-dozen teams in the league in my view."
