Sunderland manager Jack Ross has admitted that although he doesn't express a lot of emotion whilst on the sidelines, he still cares a great deal about the club's success.

After narrowly missing out on promotion to the Championship last season, the Black Cats have experienced a mixed start to the 2019/20 campaign.

Following back-to-back draws against Oxford United and Ipswich Town, it seemed as if Sunderland had clicked into gear as they secured five successive victories in all competitions.

Yet Ross' side were then brought back down to earth as they suffered a 3-0 defeat to Peterborough United in League One.

Having had to settle for a point in their latest outing against Rotherham United, the Black Cats will now be looking to get back to winning ways when they face Bolton Wanderers tomorrow.

Speaking to ChronicleLive about his demeanour ahead of the clash with the Trotters, Ross said: "I care an awful lot about what I do and how your behaviours manifest themselves on the back of that, people have different interpretations of.

"I have an immense amount of pride in what I do and I've had to work incredibly hard to get to this position.

"I will always work as consistently at it irrespective of whether things are going well or poorly, or irrespective of people's opinion of me.

"I'm just pretty balanced in that I've worked outside of football - not for long, most of my adult working life has been in the game in some way, but I've worked outside it.

"When you say that, people say you don't care - that's rubbish.

"I've loved football from five-years-old and if you speak to anybody who knows me they'll tell you it has dominated my life for a long time and it will always do that."

Sunderland could move into the top-two in League One on Saturday if they secure victory at the University of Bolton Stadium.

The Verdict

Although Ross may not give too much way in terms of his emotions during the Black Cats' clashes, he will unquestionably be determined to lead the club back to the second-tier next May.

However, in order to have the best chance of achieving this goal, it could be argued Sunderland need to improve defensively.

Yet to keep a clean sheet during the current campaign, it is imperative that Ross finds a solution to this issue over the coming weeks.