ALEX Neil walked away from Tannadice Park today with ‘food for thought’ on how to shape his Sunderland team for next season as they comfortable saw off Dundee United in a pre-season friendly.

Trai Hume’s header and Charlie Mulgrew’s own goal from the half way line saw off the Scottish side in the second half at the Black Cats won 2-0 in their first friendly back on home soil.

“I thought we were good. I thought first half we moved the ball really well” he said. “It was quite strange. I thought first half we certainly played better and second half we scored two goals.

“Certainly in these games it’s about wearing the opposition down. The fact we are in the middle of pre-season at the moment. I thought our patterns in terms of how we wanted to play we did it really well. We probably just lacked a cutting edge in the final third but normally that’s the last bit that comes before the season starts. Overall, really pleased.”

Next up is a game away to Bradford City where Neil is expected to hand minutes to those who didn’t feature at all today. While the personnel are expected to be switched up, the formation in which he uses his team could also be tinkered with.

Neil, who tends to use four defenders, was asked about the shape of his backline after the game. He replied: “Four for me is more natural in terms of how my teams have generally played.

“Going to a back three, I wouldn't say it was forced, but I thought it gave us a better balance with what we had available. What it has given me is a bit of food for thought. I was actually tempted to go with a 3-5-2 at the end there just to sample it out.

“There will probably be one game between now and the end of the season where we'll try that out.”

The signing of Aji Alese gives Sunderland the added option to use a left-sided centre back as part of a three or a four man defence. After completing his move from West Ham United, the 21-year-old got his first minutes in the red and white shirt this afternoon coming on in the second half of the game.

“He is very different from what we have got” Neil added. “He’s big, strong, powerful, left footed which I think we needed balance. Can equally play at left-back as well as left centre-back so it covers both positions off which, certainly last year, we were light in that area. I think he is a good signing.”

“He’s not played a lot of minutes so what we don’t want to do is we don’t want to be too judgemental over him too early but he’s certainly got the raw attributes to become a big powerful centre-back. He can step in as you saw today and split a line, hit a diagonal so he’s got the tools.”

The Black Cats have three more friendly ties before the start of the Championship season. They travel to Bradford City on Tuesday evening before games against Accrington Stanley and Hartlepool United complete the pre-season.