Everything Stoke City boss Alex Neil said about Sunderland ahead of this weekend’s meeting between the two sides at the bet365 Stadium.
Alex Neil, the manager of Stoke, claims that he is prepared for dog abuse from the visiting Sunderland fans and that he is aware of what to anticipate from his former team.
When the teams faced off at the Stadium of Light earlier this year, Neil, who had left Sunderland for Stoke in August of previous year, received a lot of flak.
The Potters are also in desperate need of three points after winning just one of their last eight league games before the international break. Asked if he’s looking forward to the Sunderland fixture at the bet365 Stadium, Neil replied: “Well, I’ll be getting dog’s abuse from one half and hopefully we play well so I’m not getting dog’s abuse from two halves! That’s just the nature of football, isn’t it? Obviously we want to win, we want to play well, we’re at home and we want to go and try to win the game and get our fans behind us.
“We know we need to get more points on the board. I think that’s really quite clear for everybody to see. Sunderland will come here and they’ll be hoping that they’ll be making it a lot more difficult for me in particular. That’s just the nature of the beast.
“In competitive sport, this is what it’s all about. It’s rising to the challenge and making sure that you keep cool and calm under pressure and you can take everything that comes your way and still produce.”
On the extra noise surrounding the fixture, Neil added: “I think that the whole sort of drama surrounding it really is something that supporters focus on more than any of the players or myself. The fact is that it’s well over 12 months ago now and we’ve already played Sunderland since then. Equally, I’m sure they’ll be wanting to try to put one over us and likewise. It’ll make for an interesting game.”
Sunderland midfielder Dan Neil will be suspended for the fixture against Stoke following his red card against Middlesbrough last time out.
“The game hinged on the sending off,” said Stoke boss Neil when asked about Sunderland’s last match. “Albeit that I thought Middlesbrough played really well for the first 25 minutes. Sunderland made their way back into the game until about half-time and then they had the sending off which changed the dynamic of the game.
“I’ve watched that game back and I’ve seen Sunderland a lot. I know all their players inside and out. I know what they’re going to bring and what they’re good at. I know what maybe they’re not so good at.
“But this is such a crazy league and a lot of games now are decided by key moments; whether you’re effective enough in those key moments to take the chances and making sure you don’t make any silly or naive mistakes and you don’t concede any soft goals. I think that’s ultimately what this game is going to boil down to it. That’ll certainly be what swings the game one way or another in terms of people mabe having one moment of real quality of someone making a mistake.”
Neil’s absence in Sunderland’s midfield will disrupt Tony Mowbray’s Sunderland side, yet Pierre Ekwah could be ready to return from a leg injury. The Black Cats may also be able to welcome back Bradley Dack and Alex Pritchard, while Niall Huggins will be assessed after he was forced off in the game against Middlesbrough.
“It certainly a bonus for us,” the Stoke boss added when asked about Dan Neil’s absence. “Dan’s an excellent young player. He was very good when I worked with him up there and he’ll be a loss for them. They’ll be similar to us in that Ekwah was missing before the break, Niall Huggins came off in one of their last games as well, Dack was missing. I think they’ll have a few of those lads back as well.”
Despite the defeat against Middlesbrough, Sunderland remain fourth in the table, after reaching the Championship play-offs last season.
On his former side, Neil said: “I think that coming up from League One last year, I thought they were riding on the crest of a wave and they’ve got a team that’s largely played together and functioned together for a bit of time now. They’ve added a lot of players but interestingly not a lot of them have made it into the first team, which I think shows that the team’s doing well.
Leave a Reply