The key area Tony Mowbray is looking for Sunderland improvement in final friendlies

Tony Mowbray will use Saturday's friendly against Real Mallorca to significantly step up Sunderland's preparations for the new campaign, and hopes that will see his side begin to tighten up in defence.

Mowbray is likely to make few changes over the course of the game, before significantly switching things up for Tuesday night's visit to Hartlepool United.

While the Black Cats have been freescoring through their pre-season campaign so far, they have also at times been loose defensively.

Mowbray believes that is partly down the fact that he has thus far named a mixture of youth and experience in each side, and also that all three fixtures in the US were played in punishing heat.

Saturday's team is likely to more closely mirror that which will face Ipswich Town on Tuesday night, though there will of course be a chance for others to stake a claim on Tuesday.

"Generally, at the moment, we've just sending them out to express themselves and go and run and get their fitness in," Mowbray said earlier this week.

"Of course, you try and have a level of organisation, and when I break down the goals that we've conceded they are pretty late goals so there is potentially an excuse if you think that the first game [in the USA against San Antonio] was played in temperatures of 107F, the second one [against New Mexico] 105F, and - especially when you are training pretty hard the day before and in the build-up to the games as opposed to in the league season where you taper the training right down and don't do much apart from game-prep the day before - I think it is understandable that we lost some late goals in the games.

"There are still things to work on, it was good to see some of the new signings play, Hemir got in and around a couple of goals, and Nectar played 90 minutes the other day, Jenson got some game time as well.

"They all applied themselves really well, the training facilities were good, and the people looking after us looked after us really well. It was a worthy trip."

Mallorca finished ninth in La Liga last season.