Sunderland legend Marco Gabbiadini has praised one of Regis Le Bris’ key players but wants him to add more goals to his game.
Gabbiadini scored 74 times in 157 league games for the Black Cats so he knows a thing or two about finding the back of the net.
And while the 56-year-old is not expecting this current Sunderland star to put up numbers like those, he believes the player has it ‘in his locker’ to produce much more often.
Gabbiadini’s comments come after the midfielder in question did exactly what is now being asked of him against Swansea City, but it clearly wasn’t enough to appease the ex-striker.
Marco Gabbiadini demands more goals from Dan Neil
Dan Neil has been one of Sunderland’s most consistent performers since he became a first-team regular at the Stadium of Light in 2021.
The central midfielder has only missed 13 of the Black Cats’ league 159 games in the last three-and-a-half seasons across League One and the Championship.
However, Gabbiadini thinks the Englishman can improve further and one way to do that is by scoring more goals. He only has 11 in his career to date.
It might seem a strange time to have this discussion as Neil scored a screamer against Swansea City on Saturday, but that demonstration of his ball-striking ability is exactly why the former forward wants more.
In response to a question about Neil and Jobe Bellingham, Gabbiadini told Total Sport: “They’ve both been excellent most of the season.
“There haven’t been many games where you could say they’ve not played to a decent standard. They’ve been impressive.
“We talked about goalscoring last week and I said ‘Dan Neil doesn’t score enough goals and he’s got to do something about it’. That’s what he’s got to do because he’s got it in his locker.
“A little bit more of that would make a really big difference because the opposition would look at him differently as well.”
Dan Neil is held back by current midfield position
Neil has played as a ‘number six’ under Le Bris with Bellingham alongside him in a box-to-box role with Chris Rigg as the attacking midfielder.
This is probably Sunderland’s best midfield combination, as Neil is still superb with a defensive-minded approach, but it does not get everything out of him.
As Gabbiadini alluded to, Neil can have more influence in the final third. But, in fairness to the 23-year-old, that is almost impossible to do regularly when playing as a holding midfielder.
To get the very best out of Neil, he needs to play as a ‘number eight’ with someone like summer signing Salis Abdul Samed shielding the defence instead.
But that would mean dropping Bellingham or Rigg, so Le Bris would be wise to continue with Neil in his current role and accept a lack of goal contributions.