Alex Neil makes an interesting selection admission as he discusses his Sunderland progress

The Black Cats are unbeaten in eight games ahead of the crucial Easter weekend fixtures, with Neil regularly rotating both his personnel and system in that time.

Neil has felt that necessary to cover some gaps in the squad he inherited, particularly in the first weeks of his tenure when he felt some young players were fatiguing and some senior players were short of match fitness.

The head coach feels he is 'one pillar' missing that would allow him to field a more settled side, pointing to his regular use of a back five as an example.

"I think there are pillars of your team that you would like to be consistent," Neil said."Unfortunately, and I'm not going to divulge what it is, there's probably one pillar that we're missing.

"If you look at most teams, there are probably eight or nine players who've got enough credit in the bank, particularly on a good run, that they're generally in your starting XI. Then you've got a couple around it whether it be positional, whether it be form, the game that you're playing and the shape, that you get a couple of fluctuations [from game to game].

"I've changed the team probably more than I would like to but I've felt it relevant and as I've said many times, we haven't had a pre-season base to work from where you set out how you play.

"I can put that into perspective by saying that I've played a back five at Sunderland more than I have in the last ten years of management at three different clubs.

"That shows you that isn't something I'd normally do, but I've felt it necessary since I came here in terms of plugging gaps that we've got and giving us a solution to certain things."

Neil admitted that he felt Sunderland's indifferent first-half performance against Oxford United last week was largely down to him 'overthinking' his team's set up, but said on Thursday he did not feel that would have any impact on the upcoming fixtures.

He is confident his side's strong form shows they are capable of adapting as and when he feels they need, and added that the variety can bring its own positives.

"I think what it does show that I've got intelligent players, who can take on that tactical information," Neil said.

"What I have found as well to be honest is that when you're doing that, this isn't over a ten-game period but a much longer one like I had at Preston for example, when you continually play the same way the players can get bored.

"Sometimes a change of shape or a change of strategy just engages the brain a bit more, gives the players something to think about.

"The players here have done that very, very well."