They were beaten by Norwich City 4-3 at Carrow Road on Tuesday -the second match in a row they have lost to a side in the bottom three, and now have a goal difference of -12.
It is not the scenario Sousa would have imagined when he quit Swansea City in the summer to replace Nigel Pearson - who had moved to take charge of Hull. His mood would no doubt be made worse by a glance at the league table, where he would see his former club only kept out of the play-off positions on goal difference.
"There is a lot of quality in the team and there was also a lot of spirit out there.To turn things around we need that good attitude and you saw it for a large part of the game, if we can carry on like that we will have a good chance of turning it around," he said.
"We need to keep working hard. We showed a lot of quality going forward [against Norwich] but at times we left ourselves a little bit exposed in defence and got punished. It was very difficult for us because everything seemed to go against us.
"This is not an easy moment, I know that, but I have spoken to the new owners and I think the best way to turn this around is to stick together and be strong."