'I didn't come here to be average' - Swans boss Williams

Luke Williams led Swansea to 14th place in the Championship last season after taking over in January

Luke Williams criticised Swansea City's mentality after saying their performance in the 3-2 home defeat to Sunderland "stank of doubt".

Swansea led the high-flying Black Cats 2-0 after only 17 minutes thanks to Zan Vipotnik's cool volley and a fabulous Liam Cullen free-kick.

But Sunderland halved the deficit through Dan Ballard before taking charge after the break, with Dan Neil scoring a brilliant equaliser before Jobe Bellingham's winner.

A simmering Williams said Swansea's collapse showed his players "have a fear of achieving their potential".

"I don't want to be average - I didn't come here for that," the Swansea head coach said.

"Today was an example of us doubting what we can do and what type of group we want to be. There was a lot of doubt – it stank of it. I could feel it coming off the pitch into the technical area.

"We couldn't cope with the pressure of being two up after a run of decent results. Couldn't cope with the pressure."

Williams felt Swansea "went blow for blow" with promotion-chasing Sunderland during the first half but said "only one team took the field" in the second period.

Swansea, who were watched by one of the club's new American directors, Jason Cohen, have had a positive season so far despite the fact that their squad was assembled on a relatively small budget and has some obvious deficiencies.

Williams' side were unbeaten in four games before the Sunderland's visit, but he was in no mood for excuses.

"I believe that we have enough quality in the group if we play together," Williams added.

"I don't think we are that type of Galactico group where we don't always play well but somebody will always pull a rabbit out of the hat. That's not us.

"We have got enough quality if we work hard enough to establish ourselves in a game. As soon as we start to hide a little bit, as soon as we are not brave enough, then the sum of the individuals is not anywhere near the same.

"I have to try to convince them that what we have done to go 2-0 up, if it was good enough to get us in front, it is good enough to keep us in front."

Swansea were watched by Jason Cohen, one of the new American directors who invested in the club as part of last month's change of ownership.

The defeat leaves Williams' team seven points adrift of the play-offs in 10th place.

"We are talking about competing with the top six and we are struggling to break through that barrier," added Williams, whose side have now lost to all of the Championship's current top-seven clubs this season.

"We get tested in those games. We've done very well in parts of all of those games but ultimately, we've failed because there is a difference between the genuine top-six sides and the rest of us.

"We want to break into that group, but there is a lot for us to do to achieve that."