Why Dan Neil felt he had a point to prove at Sunderland as midfielder explains Tony Mowbray' influence

The 20-year-old midfielder enjoyed a breakthrough season at his boyhood club as the Black Cats were promoted from League One in May. Still, he started just three of 18 games following Alex Neil’s appointment in the second half of the last campaign.

It was suggested that some of Sunderland’s younger players had tired after being overused last term, and Neil admits he has felt rejuvenated following a full pre-season.

Under two different head coaches in Neil and Tony Mowbray, the midfielder has started 14 of the side’s 16 Championship matches since July, and scored his first goal of the campaign against Burnley last time out.

When reflecting on the end of the 2021/22 campaign, Neil told the Echo: “We got that goal at the end of the season that everybody wanted and that was to get promoted.

“Obviously I didn’t play as big of a part towards the end of it as what I wanted to. I just had to look towards the off season to work hard and make sure I was firing on all cylinders coming into pre-season. I had a good pre-season and managed to get in the team.

“It’s a tough league in the Championship and a lot of lads are still adapting but I think as a whole and as a team we’ve started really well.

“It felt like towards the end of last season I’d lost a bit of that burst that I had at the start of the season. It was a lot to do with that and the tactical stuff, building up my strength and things like that.

“I just came in and tried to prove a point to the old gaffer.”

Following Mowbray’s appointment in August, the Sunderland head coach had individual chats with every member of his first-team squad.

The former Blackburn boss has also said he would have tried to sign Neil at Rovers if he’d still been in charge at Ewood Park.

“I had a good chat with him,” replied Neil asked about Mowbray’s arrival, along with the head coach’s assistant Mark Venus.

“He was just saying what he likes about me as a player, what I can improve on as a player and he’s always onto me in training.

"Him and his assistant Veno are constantly getting me in for clips to watch stuff back to see what I can improve and have been top class.”

Despite a recent wobble, which has seen Sunderland win just one of seven games, the Black Cats have been a match for all their opponents in the Championship so far.

Last week’s 2-0 defeat at Blackburn was the first time they had been beaten by two goals – so have expectations altered since the summer?

“I think they are similar to any fan to be fair,” Neil replied.

“At the start of the season we didn’t know how it was going to go. After the first few games we maybe got that bit of confidence and glimmer of hope.

“We are going to have a good season and we just need to see where we’re going to be when we get our full squad back because it’s hard to judge at the minute.”