Alex Neil's half-time teamtalk was unchanged despite Ross Stewart's injury-time goal - with the Sunderland boss unhappy with his side's performance in the opening 45 minutes at Stoke. The Black Cats struggled in the first half at the bet365 Stadium, and could count themselves very fortunate to go in ahead when Stewart fired them in front with his third goal of the season.
Neil said his players had looked 'leggy' in training on Friday in the wake of their midweek defeat at Sheffield United when they played for an hour with ten men after Dan Neil's red card, and he feared there would be a hangover against Stoke. He made two changes at the break and told his players to raise their game, and they responded with a much-improved second-half display to secure a hard-fought 1-0 win against the Potters.
"I think the only positive we took from the first half was that we scored," said Neil. "I thought we were really disappointing, we didn't really do anything that we have done well for a long period of time - we didn't compete well, we didn't land on second balls well enough, we didn't use the ball well enough.
