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Sunderland skipper Dan Neil has made a telling dressing room admission after Regis Le Bris’ side suffered a 2-0 defeat away at Oxford United with the play-offs looming.
With a place in the Championship play-offs already confirmed, Sunderland were beaten 2-0 at Oxford United on Saturday, their fourth loss on the bounce.
After Regis Le Bris’ side suffered a 1-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers, the head coach demanded a shift from his players, putting their collective feet firmly on the throttle with play-offs in the visor.
However, their lacklustre performance at the Kassam Stadium was another reverse manoeuvre, and skipper Dan Neil has lifted the lid on some home truths spilled in the Black Cats’ dressing room following their latest defeat.
Dan Neil reveals Sunderland home truths were spilled after 2-0 defeat vs Oxford United
Since the Oxford defeat, matters off the pitch have been more positive for Sunderland, with Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg awarded by the EFL for their exploits this season.
Both Bellingham and Rigg set their sights on “another” prize, that being the play-off final trophy, despite Sunderland’s worrying form of late ahead of the season-defining fixtures.
After the defeat on Saturday, Black Cats captain Neil has revealed that some home truths were spilled in the Sunderland dressing room.
23-year-old Neil told SAFC.com: “Things were said in the dressing room after that game on Saturday, and that’s good.”
“We don’t have long left til the play-offs so everyone laid it out on the line in there.
“We know we can beat anyone in this league on our day, we’ve turned up in the big games and I have no doubt that this squad will turn up for the biggest games of the season and our careers so far.”
He added: “We have to stick together, everyone associated with the club. We’ll be ready.”
Sunderland look “really poor” currently, picking up one point from their last 15 on offer, with a goals scored to conceded ratio of 1:6 in that time.
The Black Cats look toothless in attack while conceding sloppy goals, and central-midfielder Neil has used the U’s as an example of “motivation” for his teammates with the play-offs looming.
Sunderland captain wants to use Oxford United’s performance as motivation for play-offs
Queens Park Rangers visit the Stadium of Light on the final day of the regular season, with this weekend’s fixtures set to determine who Sunderland will face in the semi-final.
Hoping to end the regular campaign on a high, and build much-needed momentum for that double-header, the Black Cats skipper has instructed his teammates to use the Oxford defeat to fuel their play-offs fire.
Neil added: “You’ve saw how much meant it to Oxford,
“As a team, we’ve got to look at how they’ve reacted to this game, winning it, achieving their ambitions – ours is to get promoted and we still have a massive chance to do it.
“They’ve turned up in their biggest game of the season and we have to take motivation from that, because ours is coming in two weeks.”
Le Bris is using Southampton as inspiration, last season’s play-off final victors over Leeds United, in which the Saints endured a spate of defeats before their regular season curtailed before Wembley glory.
The Black Cats’ play-offs record is marred with defeats, and if Le Bris’ side are to turn the side on Sunderland’s Championship play-offs record, then a resounding home win over QPR will set the stage perfectly for the semi-final first-leg and offer supporters hope for next month’s showdown.