Dan Neil delivers honest Sunderland dressing room verdict after QPR draw amid injury issues

Dan Neil admits Sunderland were a bit naive in the closing stages of their goalless draw against QPR and wants to use the international break as a chance to reset.

Mike Dodds’ side ended a six-match losing run at the Stadium of Light, but almost suffered another defeat, with goalkeeper Anthony Patterson making some important saves.

When asked about Sunderland ending their losing run, Neil replied: “I think you can take that as a little positive but at the end of the day we want to win every game. I think Doddsy has said it in the past, we don’t go into games to lose or draw, we go in to win them. We set up today to win and obviously it didn’t pan out that way.

“I think one positive is that we found a way not to lose. If you are not going to win the game, definitely don’t lose it. I still think we were a little bit naive at the end and they could have nicked it.

“I think we just have to use this international break coming up as a big reset. I think players, staff and the fans, it’s a big reset button going into the last eight games and we need to finish off as well as we can.”

Sunderland have also been dealing with several injury issues in recent weeks, with younger players having to step into the starting XI.

“The mentality is still there from the group,” Neil added. “We come into training, we learn and we work hard. We are taking things onboard. I think little stats like running stats, they have gone through the roof, so it’s not a case of not trying or not giving our all.

“I think injuries have played a massive part. If you look at the injury list, the majority of players are massive players for us. The players we have playing now are really good players but they have only just come to the club and have kind of been thrown in at the deep end.

“We have had a tough run of fixtures, Leicester, Norwich, Southampton. It has been quite tough but the mentality is still there to try and win every game we play. We’re going to try and do that until the end of the season.”