THIS time last year, Dan Neil was riding high. Having broken into his hometown team at the start of the season, the Sunderland midfielder was looking ahead to the second half of the campaign determined to make his mark on the Black Cats’ starting line-up. Then, in the space of a couple of weeks, his footballing world fell apart.

Dropped from the starting XI and banished to the bench, Neil was called into the managerial office of his namesake, Alex. There was no screaming or shouting, but calmly and methodically, the former Sunderland boss spelled out why he was not naming the North-Easterner in his side. Up until that point, the 21-year-old’s career had boasted an interrupted upward trajectory. Suddenly, he felt as though he was back to square one.

“I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t very happy because I got taken out of the team and I felt like just as everything had gone from zero to 100 very, very fast, everything then went from 100 to zero even faster,” said Neil. “I was thinking, ‘What’s going on?’

“I did have chats with the old manager, Alex Neil, and he basically just told me straight. He said, ‘This is what you need to improve on if you want to play in my team’. Obviously, I want to play for Sunderland and he was the manager at that point, so I did want to play in his team. I had to make sure that I improved on those things.

“I probably knew that I wasn’t really going to get back in at the end of last season because we were doing so well and on such a good run, so my mind almost changed to the off-season, thinking, ‘Right, what can I do to make sure that when it comes to the first game of next season, I’m on that team sheet’.”

Neil could easily have moped or felt sorry for himself. Instead, he dissected his game to identify the weak points that had also been flagged up by his manager. He had always prided himself on being a ball-playing midfielder with an eye for goal, but the defensive side of his game was markedly inferior to the attacking element, and as a player looking to hold down a place in central midfield, that was always going to be an issue. Something had to change.

“I was taken out of the team because my defensive stuff wasn’t good enough,” admitted Neil. “It was nothing to do with what I was doing on the ball, going forward, or technical things or anything like that. It was second balls, winning duels, stuff like that.

“I knew, going into the off season, that I had to improve on that. I focused more on that than any of the on-the-ball stuff. It made a difference. There was even a bit in the season where I was thinking, ‘My defensive side’s actually better than my attacking side now and I need to level it back out again’. I think I’m starting to do that now, and get the balance of it about right.”

Neil spent time working on defensive drills and made a point of studying world-class defensive midfielders to appreciate where they were positioned and how they read the game to sense danger. He also embarked on a training and dietary programme that enabled him to lose weight, something he feels has helped with the dynamism of his game.

“It’s been about doing a little bit of everything, really,” he said. “It’s watching clips and thinking, ‘Right, where should I be in there – should I have pressed, should I have stayed in?’. I’ve also lost a bit of weight, which has made me a bit faster over the ground and more dynamic.

The Northern Echo: Sunderland midfielder Dan NeilSunderland midfielder Dan Neil (Image: Ian Horrocks)

“Last year, there were times where I felt a little bit heavy, and as though I was maybe a yard off getting to people. I would say that’s definitely something I’ve been working on this year, keeping the weight down to enable me to do that.”

The result has been remarkable. Neil hasn’t just reclaimed a place in Sunderland’s starting line-up under Tony Mowbray, he has established himself as one of the leading central-midfield players in the Championship, with the gradual improvement in his performance levels culminating in Sunday’s match-winning display in the Black Cats’ Wear-Tees derby win over Middlesbrough.

“I feel like I’m on a good run at the minute, over the Christmas period, and I’ve started to find my feet a bit in this division,” said Neil, who hails from Jarrow. “I feel like I’m learning. I’m still just 21, so I certainly haven’t been there or seen everything in the game.

“I always like to be proactive, and I don’t just want to be comfortable playing for Sunderland in the Championship. Obviously, every players strives to get as high up as possible, but you have to put the work in behind the scenes to do that.”