Alex Neil insists it is too 'simplistic' to say Sunderland's squad strength was bound to come to the fore in the final weeks of the season. The Black Cats look to have timed their run just right as they push for a play-off place, with an eight-game unbeaten run helping them claw back the ground they lost in January and early February and putting them on course for a top six finish.
Neil's predecessor Lee Johnson felt that he had built one of the strongest squads in the division and that, over the course of the campaign, that would be a factor as other clubs picked up injuries and suspensions. But while Sunderland have found some form in recent weeks at the very moment that play-off rivals such as Oxford United and Wycombe have dropped points, Neil feels there was nothing inevitable about the Black Cats' rise.
"I think it's a bit simplistic to say that if you have a strong squad on paper, you're going to end up wherever you're going to end up because, as we know when I came in, there's a whole lot of different variables that can control that," said Neil, whose side takes on Shrewsbury Town at the Stadium of Light tomorrow afternoon. "I think if you have a fit squad all season that's one thing, but when you have key players missing or not fit from time to time, others who maybe get transferred in or out, there's a whole host of things that can affect it.
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"If you're saying that if you've got a strong squad, you're going to end up where you're going to end up anyway, I don't believe that. If that was the case, you wouldn't need to hire a manager you could just say to the players, 'listen lads, you're really good, crack on' and let them get the job done.
"But as we've seen over numerous years at numerous clubs at various different levels, it's not as simple as that. There's a lot of work done behind the scenes, a lot of organisation that goes into it.
"Depending on how the players play, how well they are coached and managed, how fortunate you are sometimes in terms of on the pitch or in terms of injuries, all of that combined has a big bearing on the season."
Sunderland were expected to be one of the sides challenging for automatic promotion this season and the fact that they are instead involved in a fight for a play-off place has done nothing for nerves on Wearside. But Neil is confident that the squad he inherited in February is capable of securing a play-off spot, and a chance of winning promotion via that avenue.
He said: "Do we have a squad that is strong enough to be in the top six of the division? Yes, I certainly believe so - of course I do.
"I have faith and belief in my squad."
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