Sunderland transfer news: What Alex Neil said about potential signings, QPR and Sheffield Wednesday changes
and live on Freeview channel 276
Neil made 11 changes as his side were beaten 2-0 at Sheffield Wednesday in the Carabao Cup in midweek, highlighting a lack of options in some positions.
Sunderland have made a promising start to their league campaign, though, after drawing 1-1 with Coventry before winning 3-2 at Bristol City.
Neil still wants to add four or five more players to his squad before the end of the transfer window.
Here’s what was said at the Academy of Light.
RECAP: Alex Neil press conference
Key Events
- Sunderland face QPR at the Stadium of Light on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
- Black Cats boss Alex Neil held his pre-match press conference at 9am today.
- Neil still wants to add four or five more players to his squad before the end of the transfer window.
More to come...
That brings us to the end of the broadcast section of the press conference but Neil has also spoken to the written press, including our chief SAFC writer Phil Smith.
We’ll have more from the Black Cats boss, as well as build-up to tomorrow’s match over on the SAFC section of the Echo website.
Neil on Jack Diamond
“He played the other night against Sheffield Wednesday. As I say we still have two weeks to go until the end of the window.
“What I want to make sure is, the lads who aren’t going to get as much game time here as what they probably need for their development, we want to potentially put them out on loan.
“At the moment there has been no decision made on that.”
Neil on the Sunderland fans
“Our supporters because of the impact they have on the team, on the club, carries as much weight as any club I’ve ever been at.
“If they support the team when it is going through maybe a couple of games when they don’t perform, if they stay with us we have a far better chance of being successful.
“I’ve said this from the day I came, stay with us, because even if there are bumps in the road we’re doing our best to try and be successful and give them a team that can be successful.”
Neil on the transfer window
“When the transfer window is open there are a whole host of things that come into play when managing a club of this size.
“When the transfer window shuts you have your squad and that is basically the be all and end all.
“When it’s open that’s why you see managers trying to fight tooth and nail to make sure their squad is as strong as possible because you understand when that window shuts nobody gives you any excuses.
“From my perspective we need to make it count just now.”
Neil on transfers
“It’s an ongoing process, it always is.
“You think you are sometimes getting there and it’s maybe not as close as you think, equally I could probably walk out of here and get a phone call and somebody is on their way up.
“That is what the transfer window is like
“I’m confident we will get people in before the end of the window, but at the moment nobody is on their way up.”
Neil on QPR’s 3-2 win over Middlesbrough
“I watched the game and I’m not sure the three goals are reflective of the match. Two of them are set-plays and one of them is an absolute screamer.
“There wasn’t as if there were glaring opportunities and they were clinical.
“The one thing they have is they are really dangerous, they have some good forward players and their structure isn’t probably something we have come across in this division for a long time.
“They go about it slightly differently which will be interesting.”
Neil on the fans
“Every single team will say the same, the one thing we have got that other teams haven’t is that we have 40,000 fans at home.
“I think that is a key difference for us because at the stadium last year when I first came here, that sometimes made it difficult for us.
“The fans sometimes weren’t liking what they were seeing, you could hear the groans and the effect it would have on the team.
“What ended up happening was they managed to control how they played better and the fans responded to that and saw that.
“Now we have got to a point where the two are in unison, and that’s a powerful thing
“All credit to the fans who came down to Sheffield Wednesday, they sang the whole game and if I’m being honest there wasn’t a lot to sing about for large parts of the match.”
Neil on making changes
“There is always the debate of do you risk the guys who have played in the first couple of games, do you give the other guys an opportunity to come in and show what they can do?
“That’s for a variety of reasons. One: do they justify coming into the starting XI? Equally we need to keep their minutes up to make sure what happened when I first came into the building, that some are not overused and some are not underused.
“I understand it’s only two games but I still think it’s important that everybody gets an opportunity to show where they are individually.
“I think if we win the game and play well everybody says it’s a good decision. Equally if we lose a key player I then go into a very important league game without a key player.
“As far as I’m concerned, and not everyone will agree with it, I’m more than happy with, not how the game went, but certainly the decision making.”
Team news
Neil made 11 changes for the Carabao Cup game against Sheffield Wednesday in midweek as he wanted to give game time to other members of his squad.
Leon Dajaku was set to be involved at Hillsborough but missed the match with a minor injury.
We may get more team news when Neil speaks to the press this morning.
