'In his locker' - Sunderland legend demands 'a little bit more' from 'excellent' Black Cat
Sunderland beat Swansea City 3-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Sunderland legend Marco Gabbiadini has hailed Black Cats captain Dan Neil for his “excellent” performances this season, but has urged the midfielder to start finding the back of the net more often.
The 23-year-old scored his first goal of the season in Saturday’s dramatic 3-2 comeback victory over Swansea City, restoring parity for Regis Le Bris’ side after they had initially fallen two goals behind in South Wales.
Fellow midfielder Jobe Bellingham would go on to find an eventual winner for Sunderland, and Gabbiadini was quick to praise both, while also demanding “a little bit more” from Neil in particular. Speaking on BBC Radio Newcastle’s Total Sport, the pundit said: “They’ve both been excellent most of the season. There haven’t been many games where you could say they’ve not played to a decent standard. They’ve been impressive.
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“We talked about goal-scoring last week and I said, ‘Dan Neil doesn’t score enough goals and he’s got to do something about it’. That’s what he’s got to do because he’s got it in his locker. A little bit more of that would make a really big difference because the opposition would look at him differently as well.”
Reflecting on Sunderland’s performance as a whole, Gabbiadini also suggested that Le Bris’ side are in danger of being found out to a certain extent by their Championship rivals. He added: “I think it was an interesting game because there were different parts to it. I think teams are seeing some - not weaknesses - but opportunities to disrupt Sunderland. Physicality I think is one of them. We saw it with Bristol City midweek and Swansea in that first half. They were niggly and a little bit pushy and put hands on players.
“They [Sunderland] did [show character] because it was a bit disappointing midweek [against Bristol City]. They’ve had a stuttering few weeks with all those draws and they’ve got to keep pace if they want to stay in this race for the top two. This was a big win [vs Swansea].”