LEE CATTERMOLE might be relatively new to the Championship but the Sunderland captain has soon found how a reality check is just around the corner if players do not maintain their standards.

Cattermole has started all five games so far in the second tier and those are the first appearances he has made at that level having spent the rest of his career in the Premier League.

The 29-year-old would love nothing more than to seal a quick return to the top level, which is why he is looking for every performance to be of a high standard when Sunderland enter the field of play.

The Black Cats have won just one of their opening five league games, and the back-to-back defeats to Leeds United and Barnsley have marred a promising start to life under Simon Grayson.

This Saturday Championship new-boys Sheffield United will visit the Stadium of Light and Sunderland are in need of a lift to ensure Grayson’s new-look squad – which has had three more new additions made to it since the last game – maintain the positive vibes around.

Cattermole said: “We’re talking already as a group that we haven’t played anywhere near as good as we know we’re capable of. It’s going to be a tough season and we have to take it a game at a time, keep our feet on the ground.

“There’s a lot of work to be done and a lot of games to come. We have to forget about our last game and move on. This league’s about just remembering what makes you a good team, which is your work-rate and commitment.

“Once you start getting ahead of yourself, especially dropping down, if you think you’re better than what you are, you’ll get punished. It’s the same in the Premier League if you win a game you think ‘we’re onto something here’, that’s when it can bite you.”

Sunderland hope to be able to have latest signings Jonathan Williams, Callum McManaman and Marc Wilson available to face the Blades, having landed them on deadline day.

Grayson may not have had much money to spend but he has worked hard with a tight budget to bring in so many new players to change the face of a squad relegated from the Premier League.

Cattermole, who has experienced the lows of relegation tussles on Wearside since arriving from Wigan eight years ago, is confident Sunderland have the right man to lead the club out of the doldrums.

Speaking to the club website, Cattermole said: “It’s been good. Everything he’s brought to the club so far is exactly what we’ve needed. He’s a great fit for the job and the club and, hopefully, that will continue.

“It’s been refreshing and that’s what he asks for in his team and in his players as a standard level. That suits me down to the ground.

“That’s how I’ve made my career; on my effort and work-rate and on my honesty to go and do my best. If we can get that from the group it will be amazing how far we can go.”

Grayson will face the media again this afternoon ahead of the weekend visit of the Blades when he will provide an update on the injury front.

Winger Aiden McGeady looks set to miss the game after suffering a hamstring problem on international duty with the Republic of Ireland.

He returned early from Dublin to be monitored at club level, meaning he was ruled out of the World Cup qualifier with Serbia on Tuesday.

Williams and McManaman provide alternative options to McGeady, but neither have played much football this season. Williams has not played since before Christmas at club level, while McManaman hasn’t played for West Brom this season.