How Alex Neil wants his side's full-backs to play as Sunderland look to strengthen in the transfer market

After just a few games in the dugout, the Black Cats boss altered the team’s formation to play with a back three and wing-backs, realising they were being left exposed on the counter attack.

This was a different approach to the one Neil took at former clubs Norwich and Preston, when he predominantly deployed a 4-2-3-1 set-up. A lopsided squad and lack of natural full-backs meant he had to adjust on Wearside.

Still, by the time Sunderland played at Wembley in May, Neil felt his side were ready to operate with a back four, with Dennis Cirkin and Lynden Gooch starting in the full-back positions.

The change of shape was partly down to Danny Batth and Bailey Wright forming a robust centre-back partnership, while Corry Evans became a key player in the holding midfield role.

But with a need to sign some more natural full-backs this summer, it will be interesting to see what formation Neil uses during pre-season.

Ideally, the Scot wants his full-backs to push forward and provide attacking outlets on the flanks, yet he knows that’s not always the right approach.

Speaking in February 2020, during his third full season at Preston, Neil spoke about the subject at length.

“When I first came in, what we inherited initially, we wanted to try and build and try and play more,” he said. “Naturally the full-backs have to work higher up the pitch for that to be the case.

“The first year we didn’t really evolve into that because we weren’t ready in my opinion to go. We were quite sturdy, quite steadfast, hard to beat, hard to break down, ground teams down rather than opening the pitch up to beat them.

“Last year I probably tried it too early, so I tried it for the first 10,11,12 games of the season. What was happening was we were playing really well but we weren’t capitalising and hurting teams, and then we were losing and you find yourself in a really difficult position.

“We had to solidify and make sure we got out of the trouble that we were in, which we did.

“That’s the way you evolve and now we are at a stage where I think we handle the ball better than we ever have and we can start working our full-backs up the pitch a little bit more.”

Darnell Fisher was Preston’s first-choice right-back for most of Neil’s time in charge, and a look at the defender’s stats suggest he did become more offensive.

During the 2017/18 season, in his and Neil’s first year at Preston, Fisher averaged 2.47 crosses per 90 minutes (According to Wyscout), yet that increased to 3.76 during the 2019/20 campaign.

The player’s forward passes also went up, most notably passes into the opposition’s penalty area, which increased from an average of 2.33 per 90 minutes in Neil’s first season to 4.53 in his third.

Quite what stage Neil feels his Sunderland side are at when the season kicks off later this month remains to be seen, while the side’s evolution will also depend on the players they can attract this summer.