Alex Neil watched Sunderland demolish a patched-up Sheffield Wednesday 5-0 at the Stadium of Light in December - but warns tomorrow night's play-off semi-final will bear no resemblance to that one-sided display. Wednesday resumed their campaign on Wearside after a 19-day hiatus caused by a Covid outbreak and were further depleted through injuries, as Ross Stewart grabbed a hat-trick and Sunderland ran riot to ensure they would go into the New Year sitting atop the League One table.
Lee Johnson was in charge of the Black Cats at the time but Neil, who was then out of work, was travelling the country watching a variety of games and it was one of the matches he took in. Tomorrow night it will be Neil leading Sunderland into battle against Wednesday in the first leg of the play-off semi-final at the Stadium of Light, but he expects a very different game to the one he witnessed just before the turn of the year.
"I've seen a lot of them because they play a similar shape to us so when we do our prep work, when we watch the opposition's games we often watch them against Sheffield Wednesday," said Neil. "I've also, obviously, watched the video of our games against them home and away.
"The 3-0 defeat at their place wasn't really a 3-0 game, we had good moments in that game. And the home game, while it was a really good performance, it probably wasn't a 5-0 game either.
"I was actually at that [home] game live, just because when I was out of work I was going round watching games. But a lot has changed since then.
"We play a different shape now, there's some different personnel, they have strengthened in the January window. If you look at the back line they had that day, they ended up with Dunkley going off and Palmer in the middle as centre-back, Ciaran Brennan who is a midfielder was playing on the right side, and Marvin Johnson who is a left winger playing as left centre-back.
"It won't be like that tomorrow."
Just 44 days after Neil had watched Sunderland win against Wednesday, he was appointed as Johnson's successor with the latter having been sacked in the wake of a 6-0 defeat at Bolton which had left Sunderland with just one win in five games since that rout against the Owls, and they had gone on to lose two more games during the club's search for a new boss. Asked if he was surprised at the rapid turnaround in fortunes, he said: "No, because that's how quickly things can turn in football.
"That's why I never get ahead of myself, because when you start believing your own hype and think that you've cracked it, football has a nasty habit of proving you wrong. I'm quite relaxed and I'd like to think I have a grounded view on things, in terms that when we're doing well, great - let's prolong it. Let's do it as often and as systematic as we can.
"When it's not going well, we need to get into gear and affect the next game and win the next match. Football changes quickly.
"If you lose a game, everything is on a downward spiral; if you win a game, it's an upward spiral. There's very little in between at big clubs, that's just the nature of things nowadays. I try to control it as best I can, and the best way to control it is to win games."
After tomorrow's game, the sides will meet again on Monday at Hillsborough in the second leg. The winners will then take on either MK Dons or Wycombe in the final at Wembley on May 21.
Neil is keen for Sunderland to play attractive, attacking, football but admits that when it comes to the play-offs, performances are a means to an end and the only thing that really matters is the result. "It's based on results and it's based on performances," said Neil, who has previously managed Norwich City to promotion via the Championship play-offs in 2015, and with Hamilton Academical who earned promotion to the Scottish Premiership through the play-offs the previous season.
"At this stage of the season, results are more important than performances. People look back at the paper and see the scoreline, they don't see whether you played well or not.
"There are some games that we have played particularly well in but we didn't win them and that's frustrating for me. They are the worst ones, when you perform well and don't win. They are really frustrating.
"I'd much rather the other way round, win and don't perform well. Equally you want to marry the two up because, over a period of time, if your performances are not of a decent standard then you won't win enough games anyway."
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