Dan Neil makes Sunderland dressing room admission after departures of senior players in last transfer windows

Dan Neil admits the dynamic of Sunderland’s dressing room has changed considerably this season following the departures of senior players.

The Black Cats named the youngest starting XI in the Championship this term, with an average age of 21, at Southampton earlier this month, with more experienced players unavailable due to injuries and suspensions. Sunderland have also allowed the likes of Danny Batth, Lynden Gooch and Alex Pritchard to leave in recent transfer windows, replacing them with players who are new to the division.

“I think it’s been a big dynamic shift within the group,” Neil told the Echo following Sunderland’s goalless draw against QPR. “Last week (against Southampton) was a really, really young team. I think last week we actually came out all guns blazing in the second half and think we were really, really good, similar to Leicester. We actually wanted to push on and get the winner and that’s probably our naivety with younger lads and they’ve caught us on the break and scored.

“The dynamic has shifted, you had the likes of Danny, Lynden, obviously Corry (Evans) was fit for quite a bit of last year, Pritch. But you’ve almost got a new core group of players now like me, Trai (Hume), Dan Ballard, Jack Clarke, Patrick Roberts, Patto (Anthony Patterson) in goal. It happens in football, just evolving. 

“We need to grow into figureheads in the changing room and help these young lads. We might be young but in terms of games, we’ve played a lot of games at this level now and know what’s coming. I think it’s our job now to try and help these lads who have made that jump to play for Sunderland, help them keep going the same way the likes of Danny Batth, Lynden Gooch helped us.”

With Luke O’Nien suspended, Neil, 22, has been handed the Sunderland captain’s armband for the side’s last two matches, with a feeling of immense pride to lead his boyhood club.

“I think whether it’s against Spennymoor in a friendly a few years ago or in a big game in the Championship it’s a massive dream come true,” Neil explained. “I don’t take it lightly, I’ve always wanted to do it.”

“Luke is going to be back next week so I’m sure he takes the captain’s armband back, but I think I’ve got to use the kind of experiences I’ve had with the armband to just say nothing changes. Luke’s got the armband but I need to keep doing what I’m doing, leading by example, keep trying to lead vocally. Nothing changes from that standpoint.“

Despite taking a point against QPR, a six-match losing run has seen Sunderland drift away from the play-off places with eight games remaining this season.

“I think it’s natural that the confidence has probably taken a hit, obviously losing a lot of games on the bounce is going to affect confidence,” Neil admitted. “We now don’t have a game for two weeks and have stopped the rot. Obviously we wanted three points but we stopped the rot.

“We need to use these two weeks to kind of forget about the last few weeks and realise we are a good team. Hopefully we will have a few bodies back after this international break and use this international break to make sure we’re ready to put up a real fight for the final eight games of the season.”