Poyet said he had spent the day after the 8-0 Premier League defeat "alone, thinking and analysing" the reasons for his side's capitulation before focusing on this weekend's home match against Arsenal.
While Major said back in the 1990s he was concerned with restoring traditional British values, Uruguayan Poyet had traditional defending on his mind.
"I want to go back to basics," Poyet said in a news conference. "See the team playing a certain way, defending in a certain way, being on their game, being difficult to beat and taking advantage of the weaknesses of others.
"Things we do normally."
Poyet said he had watched last weekend's horror show on video with his squad during a "difficult, quiet week."
However, he said trying to fathom exactly where it all went wrong was a fruitless task.
"It was difficult to analyse, not the right week, because there were so many things wrong that you would try to cover too many difficulties or positions. This week was all about focusing on Arsenal.
"It's been a few years since we beat them in a league game at home. I think it's a good game for us to play after such a heavy defeat. It's a game I want to play now if I can."
Former Chelsea midfielder Poyet, who guided Sunderland away from relegation last season, said it was up to his players to prove that the club record 8-0 loss, which included three own goals, was a quirk.
"If it doesn't happen for 10 years, then it's a one-off but until another three or five, you don't know, you need to wait," he said. "I trust the players and like to think it was a really bad day at work and won't happen again.
"If I was one of the players I would make sure it didn't happen again but you can't tell with different players. You can't compare characters and reactions, so we will see."
Asked if he would make wholesale changes, Poyet hesitated.
"I'm not sure," he said. "It's probably the first match where I can do practically anything. Normally I use common sense but if I don't want to use common sense it's welcome because anything is possible."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, Editing by Neville Dalton)
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