Former Sunderland striker Marco Gabbiadini believes there is no point in criticising Regis le Bris' side after their 5-0 defeat by Nottingham Forest last Friday as they have been "consistent" and "relentless" in their first season back in the Premier League.

The Black Cats struggled for much of the game as Forest ran riot in the first half and took an insurmountable 4-0 lead before Elliot Anderson added another in the second half to hand Sunderland their biggest loss this season.

Gabbiadini, speaking on BBC Radio Newcastle, said: "Forest were ruthless. They were pressing the ball. They were having two or three shots at goal and then it was going out for a corner, and then they'd score from the corner. We almost talk about the fine margins, and I think that's one of the biggest factors in the Premier League.

"If you look at Sunderland this year, we haven't had too many bad days and we haven't had too many days where five, six, seven of the players have been off colour. We've been consistent, and the work rate has been incredible. The manager uses the word intensity a lot and intensity is one of the hardest things to achieve in any walk of life. Doing the same thing over and over again to the highest level is really difficult.

"We've seen a team this year that have been relentless at times, who have really ground their heels into teams when they've got them on the rack and turned games around from being a goal down.

"There's no point just criticising people, people make mistakes. We haven't made many this year and the goalkeeper has hardly put a foot wrong in all the games he's played. It wasn't his best night and he got punished for it."