He's had a challenging start to the season, but Dan Neil is no liability

Today at 01:00 AM

The midfielder made a rash and costly challenge during Saturday's clash with Watford, but he's certainly capable of responding strongly during our upcoming games, writes Phil West

Am I partaking in a forlorn pursuit by attempting to mount a defence of Dan Neil in the wake of a game during which his badly-judged challenge proved the difference between taking what would've been a credible point away from Vicarage Road and leaving empty-handed?

Screw it.

I'm going to try, and even though this article might be drowned out by the cries of 'DROP HIM', I think there's a valid alternative view to some of the brickbats that'll doubtless be thrown his way.

In the first instance, Neil is not, never has been, and never will be a 'liability'.

We often use this word far too flippantly and it's usually Luke O'Nien on the receiving end, but let's kill that narrative stone dead before it gains any momentum. We've had plenty of 'liabilities' at this football club over the years, in a variety of different positions, but Neil and O'Nien are emphatically not among them.

It's perfectly true that the tackle made by Neil on Saturday, which led to a penalty that gave the Hornets a victory that looked unlikely for much of the second half, was borne of pure desperation and possibly frustration in the wake of a start to the season that's not gone brilliantly for the newly-appointed captain.

As we all know, a local lad and boyhood fan wearing the Sunderland armband is always a wonderful story.

There's an emotional pull and a feelgood factor to such a turn of events that goes right back to the days of the great Raich Carter, but in Neil's case, I can't help but feel as though the responsibility of captaincy is having a detrimental effect on his game and therefore his effectiveness, as opposed to bringing out an extra twenty or thirty percent and allowing him to influence games as we'd all love to see him do.

Personally, and despite his undoubted ability as a player, I don't see Neil as a natural leader and although the club were perhaps trying to demonstrate how much he's valued by appointing him as our on-field skipper during the summer, I do worry that the honour of leading the Lads is weighing heavily on his shoulders.

The prospect of driving this club onwards will mean the world to him, as it would to any of us if we were in a similar position, but there are occasions where he can be too eager and/or guilty of poor decision-making.

His future at the Stadium of Light has yet to be clarified, with no new contract signed, but in the meantime, his role is coming under increased scrutiny and in some ways, it's fair enough.

Against Burnley, he was guilty of committing an incredibly naive foul on the Clarets' Zeki Amdouni, clattering into him late in the game when there was no danger whatsoever, and that was amid a run of displays where he'd looked strangely below par, the latest of which came against Watford, where he hadn't really made any sort of impact on the game until his costly late blunder.

However, just as Régis Le Bris stuck by Anthony Patterson despite the goalkeeper playing a role in Plymouth's late winning goal at Home Park two weeks ago, I think there's an excellent chance of Neil retaining his place in the starting eleven for the upcoming clashes with Derby County and Leeds United.

That said, it would be in the knowledge that there's some fierce competition for places in midfield and that he needs to start tapping into the form that's made him such an influential figure in recent seasons.

The Champions League-experienced Salis Abdul Samed clearly hasn't made a loan switch to Wearside to occupy a place on the bench, and the return to the fray of the vastly experienced Alan Browne will add even more bite and guile to the engine room.

Throw the exciting and currently untapped talent of Milan Aleksić into the mix and there's certainly pressure to perform- something that applies to both Neil and his teammates, as Le Bris seeks to keep our generally decent early season form going.

The idea that Neil should be dropped, perhaps for his own good as much as the team's, is valid and maybe Le Bris will decide that a dose of 'shock therapy' is needed to spark him into life, starting with Tuesday night's clash with the Rams.

On the other hand, if he retains his place, he needs to regain his focus, get back to doing the things that he does well, and demonstrate that he's got the resilience to bounce back from a tough day against Watford.

We all know he can do it. Here's hoping he does, and that his teammates rally round him and ensure that he doesn't stand alone in a role that can often be extremely daunting. He's a damn good footballer and he's one of us.

Let's not forget that.