Dan Neil was disappointed with Sunderland's goalless draw with QPR earlier today. Here's what he had to say.
DISAPPOINTED WITH THE DRAW
“Obviously we wanted all three points to break the recent bad run of form. A point is better than none at the end of the day but I think going back into the changing room after the game, everyone was disappointed. We definitely didn’t play as well as we know we can, didn’t create enough and we were a little bit naive towards the end and could have easily lost it. So we need to go back on Monday and have a look at it all again.”
TAKE ACCOUNTABILITY
“The things we went across throughout the week leading into the game, we didn’t do. We need to take accountability for that ourselves and we need to start doing it otherwise we’re not going to pick up wins in this league. It’s a really hard league, QPR might be down the bottom of the table but they’ve had a decent run of results and there are no easy games in this league, so you have to be at 100% every time you play. We need to keep working hard to try and find that 100%.”
INTERNATIONAL BREAK
“I think this little rest period is a really good one for players, staff and probably the fans as well. We need to hit a massive reset button and take this time to rest, recover and analyse the last few games and performances. We need to finish the last eight games of the season right and that starts by kind of getting our legs back over the next few weeks. We’re going to need everybody going into the last eight to make sure we finish the season off as well as we can.”
MENTALITY
“Doddsy’s alluded to it in his press conferences over the last few weeks. The mentality is still there, we are still working every day on the training ground. Whether that’s in meetings and everyone’s focused, or on the training ground and everyone’s working on things, we just need to put that out on the pitch on a Saturday, or Tuesday night, and use these next two weeks to keep fitness levels up and keep doing the right things. Hopefully going into the last eight games we’ll all be in a good headspace to try and finish the season off right.”
PROUD TO BE CAPTAIN
“I’m extremely honoured to wear the captain’s armband. I said it when I wore it previously against Birmingham, it’s a dream come true. It’s a little bit more responsibility but I’ve played quite a lot of games now and I think that’s the responsibility that I want. When Luke gets back he’ll wear the captain’s armband but I’ve still got to lead by example and lead vocally like I have been. Nothing changes from that standpoint.”
