Sunderland captain Dan Neil has revealed how the squad looked to bounce back from their recent winless patch.
The Black Cats recorded a well-needed win on the road against Swansea City, coming out as 3-2 victors.
It was a spectacular second half showing from Sunderland, who turned around a one-goal deficit at the interval to score two quick successive goals through Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham.
Three goals for the Black Cats in one game has been somewhat of a rare occurrence in recent time, with Sunderland notching just six goals in the eight games prior to the Swansea City win, and it is clear that Regis Le Bris’ side were undergoing a sticky patch that they had to snap out from.
Sunderland captain Neil has detailed the conversations that were had following the run of winless games, and how they emerged from it.
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Dan Neil on recent poor Sunderland form and the goals for December
Black Cats central-midfielder Neil has recently been critical of his own performances from the earlier stages of the 2024/25 Championship season, but he has also said that Sunderland as a collective weren’t picking up the points they needed in November.
Sunderland went six games in total without notching a win, going five games back to back notching draws, followed by a loss at Bramall Lane against Sheffield United.
Neil has spoken about the rough form for Sunderland, via the Sunderland Echo, where he said: “We said as a group after November, which wasn’t the best month with not winning, though obviously we only lost at Sheffield United where there’s an argument we could have won, and certainly deserved a point.
“We said that December was going to be a really big month and if we can stay around that top two, stay within touching distance going into January we’ve got every chance going down the stretch. We did it getting into the play-offs two years ago, a different scenario but we kept plugging away and did it on the last day. It’s a big month for us and we’ve had a good week.
“That point on Tuesday night looks like a big one now. It’s been a really good week but there’s still some big games left for us this month.”
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Sunderland emerging from sticky patch shows the character in the side
Last season, following the dismissal of Tony Mowbray as manager, Sunderland underwent a similar rough patch of form under Michael Beale, with the key difference that season being that the Black Cats didn’t recover from such a dip.
It shows just how far Sunderland have come under Le Bris, and the mentality he has been able to distil in his side, especially considering how similar the squad is in regards to personnel.
The last few games certainly will have acted as a learning curve for the Black Cats, and if they are able to come out of it somewhat unscaved, there is no reason to suggest that they don’t have the mentality to mount a serious promotion push.