Spot on Tees, in my opinion Neil is a level above the managers we have had recently.
I remember when Johnson came and he said that he would play attacking football, he even said that we would win a lot of games by 3 or 4 goals but we would also lose a few by 3 or 4 goals. At one time under Johnson we were the highest scoring team in all four divisions but had a poor goal difference. Neil spotted our weaknesses within a couple of games and tightened us up at the back, we don't score as many goals now but we have many more clean sheets.
I know it is a controversial thing to say about a club the size of Sunderland in League 1, but I reckon Neil sets his tactics to stifle the opposition and uses his plans B, C & D to beat them from formation changes and from the bench.
Yep as many teams and managers have to keep re-learning.. you start to win games by not losing... might not be the best spectacle but its a winning tactic... which trumps everything!
