https://www.wearesunderland.com/interviews/24191466.dan-neil-reveals-big-dynamic-shift-sunderland Dan Neil reveals 'big dynamic shift' at Sunderland Sunderland midfielder Dan Neil says previous transfer windows have caused a big dynamic shift in the dressing room after the departure of experienced players. The Black Cats sold Alex Pritchard to Birmingham City in the January transfer window, having failed to negotiate a new deal with the playmaker, joining Lynden Gooch and Danny Batth on the list of players to leave the club after reaching the Championship play-offs last season. When you add in the injuries to Corry Evans and Bradley Dack, Sunderland have been without experienced, older heads in their starting line-up, shifting responsibility onto the likes of Neil, Dan Ballard and Jack Clarke. "I think it’s been a big dynamic shift within the group,” Neil said following the goalless draw with 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." Luke O'Nien has been the oldest player on the pitch following Pritchard's departure at 29-years-old, but has been suspended for Sunderland's last two games. Boyhood Sunderland fan Neil has taken the armband in his absence, a moment he doesn't take lightly. "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," he said. "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." Neil would go on to say the squad's confidence had taken a hit following the six defeats on the bounce, but reiterated the need to used the international break as a reset. He said: “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. "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."
"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." Amen to all that.
We need a win badly to calm this noise down. Never before has what happens on the pitch is going against what is happening off it.
CLARKE DEPARTURE UPDATE Although most people have already resigned themselves to losing Jack Clarke this summer, his agent, Ian Harte, has given an update which suggests that the deal Sunderland have offered is not acceptable. Ian Harte said: “There’s not many people know this but in Jack’s contract he had to play a few games at the start of this season to then get offered a new deal. There was a deal that was offered but it wasn’t good enough." “They have a [wage] structure. Lots of clubs have that. I don’t think [Sunderland] want to break any structure for any football player so I can’t see it happening, no.”
Seems obvious he will go, he’s one of our highest paid players as is and can probably easily double, likely even triple his money with a low end Premiership team whereas we were likely trying to give him a 20-25% bump.
By fluke I heard an interview on the radio today with Paul Barber at Brighton. They have announced big profits so was all about they run things. Some interesting points struck me. They dont have much non footballing income to rely on, sponsorship etc, but what they do have they treasure and put as much back into those relationships as they can. Really though it is all about the footballing side. Talked about transfers and how they seem to make it work. He said the real trick is selling at the right time, that is the knack, to maximise income. In the incomings they have a system which allows them to scout globally, looking for players of a certain profile. He said the head coach is central to that as signing player a head coach doesnt want would be madness. He did say De Zerbi will ask for X or Y and sometimes that is out of their price bracket and they have to then agree to comporomise on another player. What was telling for me was how Barber talked about the final stages of signing a player, and then the settling in period. Barber takes the player for a wander around the training ground and explains the community, city and expectations on players to be part of that. If he doesnt think they buy in they wont sign. Then once signed he says it is vital to have a core of experienced players in the squad to make sure new or young players get the best chance to bed in and be successful. He name checked the signings of Llalana and Milner as examples. Players that young lads will instantly look up to. Got me thinking back to my playing days. I went into serious mens football at 16 and it was the older lads who got me sorted and doing the right things. I could play, but I didnt really know how to train, or what standards were on matchdays etc. I played for 3 non league sides and it wad always the same, the older lads got me settled right in and kept me straight. At one point an older lad kept my feet on tbe ground, by literally taking them off the ground and putting me 3 foot in the air something I said to him in the game on the weekend that simply wasnt right. I know a lot think we lack experience. I just thought Barber seemed to hit the nail on the head. It is about how they can react on the pitch because they have seem it all. More so about helping players settle in to a new group of lads and be ready soon to get on the pitch. We probably need to think about this part a bit more. Paying older lads wages might be seen as an investment in younger lads development.
I agree with that providing its lads like Gooch, Evans and O'Nien ... ... not the likes of Pritchard or Grigg who wouldn't be a good influence on young lads imo.
Yep. Character is key. The old lads need to want to give their time and advice, as well as the right sort of bollockings. You can imagine James Milner is brilliant at it. Oddly, perhaps, I know a lad at Blackburn who says Dack is brilliant around young players and cant help enough.
Great post again mate. Any chance you could email this to KLD and KS? As you say, investing in a few older players with the right experience and character is investing in our younger players and will undoubtedly improve their development.
I thought this bit was interesting. For years before KLD turned up I have been referencing Saracens rugby club and the importance they put on culture within the club and that they'll only sign players who they consider to be 'Saracens people'. We'll gloss over the trouble they got in for circumventing the wage cap but using this policy they were very, very successful. It's interesting to note that since KLD took over, even if they haven't all been great players, we don't seem to have signed any bad eggs or trouble makers. This is in contrast to the Short years. The one time that there was any suggestion that a player might not have been buying into the ethos, he was gone shortly after. It might not seem like much but it demonstrates that the club are putting the right practices in place. We should perhaps look on this as a positive aspect of the KLD regime, amidst all the doom, gloom, and criticism.
