Forget the long term, just win – assessing Neil’s first full week
Alex Neil has big ambitions on Wearside but don't expect to hear too much talk of longterm plans or philosophies in the near future.
First and foremost, Sunderland need a win.
His first week on Wearside has been stormy, fans quite rightly left angered and bewildered by the latest revelations surrounding the club’s ownership.
Neil, other than clarifying that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is the only shareholder he has met and spoken to, said his focus had only been on football.
There has been plenty of focus there, too.
Neil's first concerns when assessing his squad were that although very happy with the general quality, a number of young players have played too much football and a number of experienced players have not played enough.
With time and games at a premium, that is an issue not easily rectified.
Given that the Black Cats are in their fourth season at this level, you can understand why the new head coach is not looking too far ahead.
"If we're really being honest here, most managers come in and like to talk about the long term to buy themselves time," Neil said.
"But unless you win in the short term, there is no long term.
"I'm a realist and it's straightforward for me, we need to win as many games as we can.
"There are certain variables that make it more difficult but there are challenges at every club you go into.
"We need to do as well as we can this season, hopefully make it a successful one.
"Then we'll sit in the summer and assess where we're at, and take it from there.
"First and foremost, my philosophy is to win.
"The style in which we try to do that will depend on game to game.
"I hope people will see that I have a certain style, and what I always see is once you've been in the building and you've got people working, you should be able to watch a game in black-and-white and know which one your team is.
"I want to get there quickly, but first and foremost it is about winning.
"And then within that, if it's not going to plan then how can we be even more aggressive to force the issue, and that's something that we've spoken about this week.
"You can get bogged down in philosophy, people talk about it and often lead to Manchester City.
"Well they have a squad worth about £1 billion and every player can put the ball in any place at any moment.
"Everyone else unfortunately has got to work to a structure, to get their best players in their best positions."
That, for Neil, is the key conundrum.
He was eager not to overwork his players this week, either physically or mentally, but time is limited for him to make a quick impact.
It helps that his assessment of the team is that, generally, it's the simpler fundamentals where the quickest progress needs to be and can be made.
"Hopefully it [what I want my team to look like] will be displayed on Saturday,” he said.
"I want us to move the ball quickly, I don't like laboured build-up but equally, it's not about just going back to front.
"We want to move it quickly, get into dangerous positions more often, get into the final third and put more crosses in the box.
"We probably need to play more aggressively in terms of our first positions, and it's all that sort of stuff that has been the real focus of our first week.
"This week, like every week, it's been a mix of the training pitch and the video room and trying to get as much content into them as we possibly can .
"Naturally, you can only do so much on the pitch without then getting a physical dropoff, and we are very conscious that we have three games in a week.
"So we've worked them hard, but within reason.
"We've shared a lot with them this week, but to be honest they have been fairly simple messages.
"As far as I'm concerned, what we need to do, and we've looked at the stats, we need to get the fundamentals right.
"We need to run more, we need to tackle more, we need to play forward more, we need to pick up more second balls. If we get more of those fundamentals right, then our details can start to make a difference because what we have got is talented players. We've got the quality if we get those players into certain areas of the pitch, and we need to get them there more often.
"That's my opinion and certainly looking at the stats, they reflect that as well."
While form is poor, Neil is confident that he has not seen any signs of a dressing room not up to the challenge.
"I wouldn't say I’ve had to lift them," he said.
"I didn't see anything that a larmed me, whatsoever.
"My major concerns so far have been the things that I've already mentioned, just that disjointedness we had in terms of the minutes within the group etc.
"But in terms of the appetite and attitude of the players, it's been very good.
"They certainly don't seem down to me. We've had some 1-to-1s and also some collective meetings.
"They seem fine to me, so I'm hoping for a good reaction on Saturday.
"Listen, I'm not trying to delve too much into any psychological issues, we're not a damaged animal, we've had a blip in form and we need to get back on track.
"In football, everything looks a hell of a lot rosier if you win your next game so that's what we have to focus on."