Dan Neil’s frank message to Sunderland strikers as midfielder explains changes Michael Beale has made

admin | January 15, 2024 | Other Clubs | No Comments

Dan Neil talks about Michael Beale’s adjustments as head coach and Sunderland’s striker predicament.

Dan Neil has pushed Sunderland’s forwards to seize their chances, but he doesn’t believe their goal drought is an acceptable justification.

During the summer transfer window, the Black Cats added four new forwards to their roster: Mason Burstow, Hemir Semedo, Eliezer Mayenda, and Nazariy Rusyn. Rusyn is the only one of the four who has scored this season; his lone goal came on New Year’s Day against Preston.

Sunderland's Dan Neil explains Premier League ambitions and why he's signed a new contract despite interest

However, Sunderland’s 2-1 loss at Ipswich saw Rusyn start on the bench as head coach Michael Beale chose not to start a recognized forward. With 15 minutes left, the away end saw the fans start chanting, “We want a striker,” as their team fell behind 2-1.

When asked how challenging it is not playing with a recognised striker, Neil told the Echo: “It’s just the predicament we find ourselves in. We obviously have brought strikers in over the summer. None of them have hit the ground running but we need to keep getting on to them in training, to keep working hard, keep improving. The shirt is there if they want it. It’s all about whether they want to take it and do the necessary things to improve, get better and show that it’s their shirt.

“For now it’s very choppy-changey. I think the no striker thing is a little bit of a get out. If you look at last year we scored a lot of goals, if you look at this year we’ve scored a lot of goals and played without a striker. It would be nice to have a striker firing and scoring but we don’t want to use it as an excuse because we got in the play-offs last year without a real number nine. We need to take accountability for that as well.”

With 27 league games played this season, Sunderland has scored 37 goals (12 clubs in the second tier have scored more goals). They are now seventh in the table and outside of the play-offs based on goal differential. Since Beale took over as head coach in place of Tony Mowbray, the Black Cats have won seven of their five league games; in preparation for Friday’s home match against Hull, the former is now spending more time on the training field.

When questioned about the adjustments Beale has made, Neil said, “It’s a little bit different from the last manager and we need to come to terms with what he wants to change quickly.” “I still don’t feel like it’s as smooth as we want it to be but it’s a process and not having as hectic a schedule now is going to improve that for all the players and all the coaching staff.

It’s merely a little bit less in control. We’ve been considering collaborating on a couple projects without ownership. I won’t reveal all the details, but there’s an opportunity for us to work on it in the upcoming weeks. Hopefully, we can improve upon and come away with points in the near future.”

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