DAN NEIL claims Sunderland’s 2-0 win over Cardiff City highlights some of the key areas where the Black Cats have already improved since the end of last season.

Sunderland made the ideal start to life under new head coach, Regis Le Bris, as goals from Luke O’Nien and Jack Clarke secured all three points at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Le Bris’ side lacked fluency for much of the game, but dug in when they had to, to prevent Cardiff from asking serious questions of Anthony Patterson, and posed a regular threat on the counter-attack.

Neil admits he and his team-mates might well have lost in similar circumstances last season, and claims Sunderland’s victory proves that early progress has been made under Le Bris.

“The first game is always a really tough one because you don’t know what team you’re going to come up against,” said Neil. “That was a very different Cardiff to the one we’ve played against in the last two years.

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“In the previous years, they were very direct and sat off out of possession, but they were there complete opposite today. There was lots of fluidity and good movement from them, and they tried to press us.

“We might have lost that type of game last year. We weren’t at our best today, I think that’s obvious, but I think that just shows how far the group has come. I think we’d have struggled to win that last season, but we showed the togetherness to make sure that we came out with a win.”

Neil was especially pleased with his side’s defensive resolve, with Luke O’Nien and Aji Alese both impressing at centre-half and Dennis Cirkin making a welcome return to competitive action at left-back.

While Le Bris has been trying to improve Sunderland’s passing play since taking charge earlier this summer, he has also focused a lot of his attention on improving the organisation of the Black Cats’ defending.

“You could see the game model that we’re trying to work on,” said Neil. “When we get breached, it’s ‘get four men behind the ball’, defend the box and defend the goal. Last year, we probably didn’t do that enough and were almost thinking about going forward again.

“I thought we always looked dangerous in transition with the players we’ve got in attacking areas. They’ve got pace and they can damage teams. Getting that first goal was massive because it allowed us to sit in and almost encourage them on, knowing we could hit them on the counter-attack. Then that second goal really killed the game off.”

Neil wore the armband this afternoon, having been appointed as Sunderland’s new skipper last week, and while he captained the side on occasion last season, the boyhood Black Cats fan is extremely proud to have been selected to lead his hometown club on a permanent basis.

“I was buzzing last season (when captain),” said Neil. “But I knew that was a short-term thing. I knew Luke (O’Nien) would come back into the team, and Corry (Evans) towards the back end of the season.

“I just tried to enjoy the moment last season. This year, it’s a full-time thing, and I really enjoyed it today, walking the lads out for the first game of the season. I’m just glad we got off to a good start with a nice 2-0 win and a clean sheet.”