Alex Neil admits he must prioritise 'substance over style' in the League One run-in as Sunderland work to book a play-off spot. The Black Cats are involved in a fierce battle with at least five other clubs looking to secure one of the four play-off berths.
And with just eight games remaining, they have limited time to get the points they need to guarantee that top six finish. Head coach Neil took charge just over a month ago and during that time he has asked the players to take on board his tactical approach and as many of his ideas as they can.
More fundamental changes in terms of playing style will have to wait until the summer, when he has more time to work with the players in pre-season, and when the transfer window provides an opportunity to reshape the squad. Until then, though, it is simply a case of finding a way to get the points that will keep Sunderland in with a chance of promotion.
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"I certainly think we have to be more substance over style at the moment," said Neil. "The result is the most important thing.
"That doesn't mean we want to be poor in our play, we want a level that is acceptable and to build on that and improve it, but the simple fact is that we have eight games remaining and we need to pick up as many points as we can. If it means being a bit more pragmatic in terms of getting those points, then that's what I'll have to do.
"The points are more important than anything else at the moment. We are just trying to find a way to win games, and thankfully we are on the pathway to doing that.
"We've been doing that in recent weeks, and we need to continue."
Sunderland have produced impressive performances on the road to win 3-0 at promotion-chasing Wigan, and at Charlton Athletic in a game which ended goalless but which the Black Cats dominated and should have won. At home, the displays last week against Fleetwood Town and then Crewe Alexandra were less convincing, but Sunderland collected six points from those games which Neil knows is the most important thing.
He said: "The two home games that we've had of late, we can certainly perform better than that. The two away games, at Wigan and Charlton, I thought we performed extremely well.
"You could probably argue that in terms of performances it has been a bit of a mixed bag, but we've got the points that mattered and we have also kept more clean sheets, we've still been scoring goals."
Sunderland have kept three clean sheets in their last four games, and are on a five-game unbeaten run as they prepare to head to Lincoln City tomorrow.
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