"When we win a couple of games we're going to win the league yet when we lose, people talk about relegation. We're all stepping in to the unknown because we've ripped this club apart and started again all within the space of six or seven weeks. We're in a league where we are seen as the big scalp and everyone wants to shoot us down.
"You have to remember that a lot of these sides have been together for a while and against us they've had to be at their maximum. We've already seen the crowds that our games pull in. We are trying to knuckle down and be a hard side to beat.
"The players do seem to be handling it and I can understand the expectancy because it's a case of 'how quick can we get back to where we want to be? We musn't go out with fear just because we lost our last home game.
"The fans have a role to play in that as well. They were brilliant again on Friday and didn't get on the players' backs.
"If someone had said to me that come the end of September we would have lost just three games I would have taken it.
"We're looking a hard side to beat and that is very important. We've got a lot of new faces and I think there is another 10 or 15 per cent to come out of the players.
"We couldn't have asked for a harder game. Tony Pulis has put together a decent side at Stoke and they are going well. They'll be big, strong and will play direct football."