Former Sunderland boss Alex Neil has passed comment on Regis Le Bris’ side and the ‘difficult situation’ they find themselves in right now.
Sunderland will host Millwall this Saturday at the Stadium of Light, where the Black Cats will hope to end a fairly poor run of recent form.
Unfortunately for the Black Cats, they will be without several players, including the injured Sunderland pair of Dennis Cirkin and Leo Hjelde, whose absences have left numbers light at left-back.
Regis Le Bris’ side will be facing off against former Black Cats boss Alex Neil, who has identified Wilson Isidor as Sunderland’s top star.
Ahead of the game, Neil also gave a full assessment of Sunderland, which included the former Black Cats man touching on the ‘difficult situation’ his former side find themselves in.
Alex Neil Sunderland verdict as he explains ‘difficult’ Black Cats situation
In his pre-match press conference, Millwall boss Alex Neil gave a full overview of the current Sunderland side and the players to look out for as the two teams go head-to-head this weekend.
Per London News, Neil said: “A lot of the younger players like Jobe Bellingham, Dan Neil, Chris Rigg, Dennis Cirkin and Trai Hume have all got another year under their belt at the level. That has really set them up to have a good year.
“Their style is a little bit different to what it has been. They have been very much possession-based and trying to dominate games over the last few years whereas I’d say they are much more counter-attack and transition than what they have been.”
Neil continued to discuss Sunderland’s recent form that they find themselves in, and the tricky position they are in in the current Championship table.
“You can’t argue with the points they have got on the board,” Neil continued. “They are in a bit of a difficult situation in that they are probably too far away from that top two and they are never going to drop out of the play-offs.
“They are a little bit in limbo until the play-offs come along. But they want to finish the season strongly and go in with a bit of momentum.”
Sunderland will be hoping for an improvement on the previous meeting between the two clubs, which saw Le Bris’ side fall to a late goal that levelled up the scores at The Den.
Black Cats side will need to show character to divert from ‘difficult situation’
It could potentially be the case that the current Sunderland squad could have complacency seep into the cracks in the remaining few games, due to the fact that, as Neil says, the Black Cats have little to play for in terms of already having one foot in the play-offs.
Le Bris and the several experienced heads within the side will need to ensure that this isn’t the case as they will need to maintain some form going into the play-offs, otherwise the odds will be stacked out of their favour.
Providing that Sunderland come back after the international break and claim an expected win against Millwall, it will be clear that there are no concerns surrounding complacency, but the pressure will certainly be on to make sure that such a performance is delivered.