David Moyes accepts he will face questions over his future after Sunderland produced a performance he labelled "as bad as anything I have been involved in here" after a 4-1 Premier League loss at Burnley.
Andre Gray scored a first Premier League hat-trick and Ashley Barnes also found the net from the penalty spot for Burnley, who moved nine points clear of third-bottom Sunderland.
Jermain Defoe did net a consolation for Sunderland, but Moyes was goaded with chants of "you're getting sacked in the morning" from the home fans and also lost Lamine Kone and Victor Anichebe to first-half injuries.
"We were dire today, really, really bad. It was a poor performance, and defensively especially we were all over the place," Moyes told reporters.
"You have to do the old-fashioned defensive things well and we didn't.
"My players were well-briefed on the opposition and you just have to hope they take that into the game. We made the same mistakes time and time again; missed headers, missed bouncing balls, the same stuff.
"The players have to take responsibility as well as me, and that was dire - as bad as anything I have been involved in here. I can't walk into the dressing room and say 'Yeah, that was great lads'. It wasn't.
"You can ask me questions about myself and my future, that's fine. We're in the bottom three, I know that."
Gray's top-flight treble came less than three years after he scored a fifth-tier hat-trick for Luton Town against Hereford United.
"It's massive for me to score a hat-trick - four years ago I never thought I'd be playing in the Premier League, never mind scoring three in one game," he said.
"I have had to work hard, do the right things and hope that it'll pay off. Here, obviously it has.
"I knew these goals were coming - I've always had that belief and just needed that little bit of luck.
"Ashley Barnes was massive for me, and we know what we're doing as two up front. We managed to isolate the back two of Sunderland and have some success.
"We are only halfway through the season though - a lot can change. We need to dig in and stay up."
