Sunderland boss Alex Neil has expressed disappointment in his side after they were beaten 2-0 by Sheffield Wednesday in the EFL Cup last night.

The meeting saw the Black Cats return to Hillsborough for the first time since they drew there against Wednesday in the League One play-offs back in May, sending them through to Wembley.

This time around, though, things did not quite go their way.

Frustratingly, Neil believes his side were architects of their own downfall on the night.

"I'm disappointed in the fact that I thought, to a certain extent, we were the architects of our own downfall," Neil explained, via ChronicleLive.

"I don't think we got carved apart too often.

"Only really when we made the mistake for the first goal, we gave the ball away and the lad chops it onto his wrong foot and puts it into the top corner from about 30 yards. I thought seven or eight minutes after that was probably their best spell, really.

"We controlled the ball without threatening. We didn't have enough of a threat, but that's my responsibility and my burden - we had Jack Diamond who is a winger playing centre-forward, and we had Harrison Sohna who is a midfield player playing left wingback."

With Neil ringing the changes prior to kick-0ff, a sub-par performance that lacked coherence is perhaps understandable.

 

 

A number of players were appearing for the first time this campaign, and Neil revealed he made such changes due to the nature of the schedule coming up for the club.

"The physical output that we put in the last two league games meant that I didn't want any of the lads who have been featuring to expose themselves this evening, because we are going to have a lot of midweek games coming up and that's going to be really taxing for us." the Sunderland boss added.

"I thought these lads deserved their opportunity as well, but we know we can move the ball better."

The Verdict

Given the changes they made for the tie, the EFL Cup was clearly not a priority for Alex Neil and Sunderland this season.

That makes sense, too, given they are simply aiming to retain their Championship status for this upcoming campaign.

With the Championship schedule even more condensed than usual this season, resting the 'first XI' so to speak is probably a good move.

Whilst a defeat is never welcomed, perhaps Neil can take solace in the solid start his side have made to their league campaign, earning a draw against Coventry City and defeating Bristol City.