3 dilemmas that Alex Neil will have at Sunderland during pre-season

Sunderland turned their season on its head to seal promotion back to the Championship under Alex Neil in 2021/22.

The Scotsman has managed, and won promotion, at second tier level in the past and will be confident of safely stabilising the Black Cats next term.

The Black Cats come up with a lot of momentum, knowing the potential of the team and the club when everything is pointing in the right direction.

The Black Cats utilised the loan market extremely well last season and could do so again, but for now Neil will be hoping to improve the group present in the North East, to ensure that they hit the ground running at the end of next month.

Here, we have taken a look at three dilemmas that Neil will have at Sunderland during pre-season…

Style of play

Neil initially focused on shoring up the defence when he arrived, and altered the tactics from the bullishly attacking style of Lee Johnson.

It will be interesting to see how ambitious Neil is at the beginning of next term, knowing exactly what is required in both boxes to succeed.

It is unsustainable to keep picking up positive results when conceding multiple goals and the Black Cats will come up against far more dangerous forward lines than in the third tier last term.

Neil could be more adventurous at the Stadium of Light to begin with, building a platform for the club to stay up before indulging in loftier ambitions.

Expectations

It is easy to get carried away after a promotion and especially with the manner of which Sunderland achieved the feat.

Their performances in the play-offs, particularly in the two-legged victory over Sheffield Wednesday, were very measured but they still created an abundance of goalscoring opportunities.

Supporters will be quietly confident of