Sunderland boss Steve Bruce says expectations are over the top on Wearside.
Bruce has been under pressure since losing his second Tyne-Wear derby two games into this season but admits he is still perplexed that he appears to be fighting a losing battle with some Sunderland fans.
He said: "I was genuinely looking at a few faces to see if they could respond and they did. The vast majority of them.
"There's a huge expectation here, bigger than it ever should be really in my opinion, but that's what it is. The new players have certainly learned that. They know what it's going to be like now.
"I know we have the nucleus of a good squad, given little bit of luck and a bit of time we will be fine. We will still be pushing to finishing in or around that 10th position where we want to be. I'm still hoping we can do that. Looking at the players we've got and certainly there were signs today that pleased me.
"The intensity even shocks the ex-Man United lads. They are saying 'what's the problem? Ok we've had a bad start but why is it like it is at the moment, the frenzy?'
"We had a bad run last year but we finished tenth, so we must have had some parts of the season ok. But there's this frenzy which engulfs the North East.
"Even those players who have played in front of 70,000 crowds 400 times can see how difficult it can be. There's the expectation here of a huge, huge, big club."