Dan Neil has established himself as Sunderland's midfield general!

Yesterday at 01:00 AM

In recent weeks, Neil has gone from scapegoat to hero, and his form is proving vital as we push for promotion, writes Calum Mills

We first saw him as a defensive midfielder under Alex Neil and at first, the mistakes he was making were forgotten as during the previous season in League One, he was one of our advanced midfielders and performed admirably.

However, the writing was on the wall for the Hebburn man and his new position with his sending off away to Sheffield United, when he miscontrolled the ball and pulled down James McAtee.

Sadly, he never looked comfortable in this more defensive position and he would continue to make error after error in the middle of the park, and mostly when facing his own goal, losing the ball due to poor positional awareness or turning straight into his man.

As is the way with Sunderland fans, people were quick to get on his back and use him as a scapegoat, with some calling for his removal from the team.

Neil eventually left and Tony Mowbray came in, and by the time we signed Pierre Ekwah in January 2023, Neil had been in deployed in this unfamiliar position for the best part of half a season due to injuries to other players, but still didn't appear to understand the role he was being asked to play.

The signing of Jobe in the summer of 2023 did allow Neil to revert to his more advanced role against certain teams and put in performances the faithful knew he was capable of.

Then came the loss of Mowbray and the disastrous appointment of Michael Beale, with the whole structure and dynamic of the team changing to the point we were completely unrecognisable. The less said about the Beale era, the better, or I along with many others may redevelop a complex.

Now, to this flourishing season.

The performances we once saw from Neil are back, but he's finally performing in a defensive position and as team captain. What an honour, the stuff dreams are made of. Not just playing for, but captaining the team you grew up supporting.

With dominant wins over Cardiff and Sheffield Wednesday to start the season, any mistakes he made were masked by how well we performed as a team.

Then came Burnley, and a sending off for two very daft and naive decisions, first for arguing with the referee over a clear foul and then needlessly diving in on Zeki Amdouni with five minutes to go, bringing unnecessary pressure for the remaining ten players to deal with.

A mature, experienced captain wouldn't have made that rash decision and as much as I never rated Corry Evans, we missed his experience in that situation.

My concern for Neil was that as he'd inherited the captaincy and the defensive side of his game being his weakness, the pressure he would be putting on himself may be the downfall of himself as a player.

After several more sub-par performances, there were calls for Neil to be dropped, but for who? Our natural replacement for him was miles away from fitness, and still technically is, as he's not even made the bench.

It was hard to believe a player of Neil's talent was incapable of playing as defensive midfielder, but then came the away day at Swansea, where his performance was one of class, prowess and leadership.

We were 2-0 down inside twenty minutes and for the first time this season I noticed our captain being the one to lead the comeback.

He got around the players, encouraged them and when he was on the ball, he was magnificent and his goal in the second half of the game was as good as you'd see from a midfielder all season.

Picking it up just inside Swansea's half, driving through their midfield and unleashing an absolute thunderbastard into the top corner. He played like a man possessed to make sure we came away from that game with a point at the very least.

He followed up the Swansea performance with 'man of the match' displays against Norwich, Blackburn and Sheffield United. Not just his playing performance, but his leadership in terms of leadership, too.

A young man leading a team of young men is no easy task, but in the last month he's matured into a well rounded player and a leader - timely, some might say!

The biggest improvement in his defensive ability for me has definitely been his ball-winning ability and the timing of his tackles. He's always read the game well but doing so from a defensive perspective is different from an attacking perspective, with the game in front of you.

If you take the Portsmouth game as the example, he anticipated the direction of the pass back to the throw taker, releasing Eliezer Mayenda to break alongside Wilson Isidor to score the crucial goal and take all three points.

Am I biased in saying he's still better suited in a more advanced role? Yes.

He almost glides with the ball at his feet. He's developed the ability to ping the ball to the wings and we've even seen him popping up on the overlap to the byline, against Blackburn away, to support attacks and pick up assists.

With Salis Abdul Samed likely to start in the 'number six' position against Stoke and with more potential incomings, we could yet see Neil finish the season more advanced, alternating with Jobe or Chris Rigg as part of the midfield three.

Needless to say, the Dan Neil we know is back, and long may it continue.

The lad has been integral to our performances of late, and he's undoubtedly going to have a big part to play between now and the 3rd of May!