Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce concedes that at present his side are coming up short after they slipped to yet another defeat.
Southampton were on top at the Stadium of Light and Sunderland had to clear efforts from Jose Fonte and Steven Davies off the line.
Eventually Southampton's superiority showed and when Yann M'Vila fouled Ryan Bertrand in the penalty area, Dusan Tadic made no mistake from the spot and made it 1-0 to the visitors in the 69th minute.
Ronald Koeman's men saw out the win without being tested and Allardyce concedes that his Sunderland side are at present not good enough and as a result are dropping points they should be picking up to help their battle against relegation.
"We are playing with fear and we need to get rid of that. In the end we have gifted it to Southampton", Allardyce was quoted as saying by the BBC.
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"We need to pass the ball better. Our passing in possession was poor and I think it's the fear of the position we are in.
"It could have been a point, it could have been a point at West Brom. That's two points.
"We have to do better and cut out the silly mistakes. At the moment we are not good enough", he added.
Sunderland sit second bottom of the table with just six points from 12 games, in dire trouble, as Allardyce looks to save the Black Cats.
