Sunderland boss explains his Dan Neil selection call and reflects on midfielder's exciting progress

Neil was not in the lineup on Tuesday night for only the second time this season, his previous absence being the 1-0 win at Stoke City for which he was suspended.

Tony Mowbray turned to the 20-year-old as a substitute in the second half of the 0-0 draw with Blackpool and in a deeper role the youngster played an important part in resisting a Blackpool side who for the most part had the better of the latter stages.

Mowbray explained on Thursday that he had wanted to retain his attacking midfielders even while bringing Amad into the starting line up, a strategy that almost yielded an instant return when Elliot Embleton struck the bar inside the first ten minutes.

The head coach could be tempted to bring Neil back into the fold against a Swansea City in imposing form - and he has also explained how the midfielder he was keen on signing at Blackburn Rovers could have an important role to play in helping to manage the influential Corry Evans' workload.

The holding midfield role is one that Edouard Michut will be a strong contender for in the long term but for now Mowbray is likely to introduce him further forward while he finds his feet.

"I had a decision to make on Tuesday night and I wanted to get another attacking player on the pitch," Mowbray explained.

"We gambled a bit in terms of playing the five attackers in my mind rather than the four that we'd been playing with, so we went with Amad up top and took that midfielder out.

"It was just with being at home.. we had a good chat about it and he understood, he's a young player learning his trade. Dan has done extraordinarily well and as I've said before one who was very much on our radar at Blackburn Rovers when Sunderland were a League One club.

"That promotion has made him a Championship player and I think he's shown he can handle the division and do well in the division, but he's still a young player and as long as you explain your decision, I don't mind making the call to leave them out [occasionally]

"I did have a long conversation [with staff] because I was considering resting Corry and putting Dan in that pivot position, but I went with experience in the end to play behind Elliot and Alex," he added.

"He's got a good passing range has Dan and he can learn a lot about anticipation from Corry as well, and I think that's what he will develop into, a distributor with the ball. His physicality and athleticism won't stop him in that position I don't think, he's well-rounded just young and with some growing into his body to do.

"We'll keep encouraging him, we think he can be the eight who runs past players at times but also succeed in that deeper role.

"We want him to have that flexibility about what he does."