Skipper Corry Evans has revealed that outgoing head coach Alex Neil kept the Sunderland players 'in the loop' yesterday ahead of his departure to take over at Stoke City. Neil took training at the Academy of Light yesterday before agreeing to take the vacant manager's role at Stoke City.
He was absent as the Black Cats lost 1-0 against Norwich City at the Stadium of Light this lunchtime, instead appearing at Ewood Park to see the Potters' game against Blackburn Rovers. As ChronicleLive revealed yesterday, the deal is done with only official confirmation to come from both the Sunderland and Stoke City ends that he has left Wearside for to take over at the bet365 Stadium.
"Obviously he kept us updated yesterday morning and told us what was going on, he just wanted to keep us in the loop," said Northern Ireland international Evans. "He continued to take training and as far as we were away it was just a normal day.
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"He took the preparation for the game, he took the analysis and everything and we as players just had to crack on. We can't control anything else that happens so our full focus was on today’s game and on the game I thought we executed the game plan very well and on another day we could have come away with the three points."
Sunderland turned in a battling performance against the Canaries in the wake of Neil's departure, and Evans says that is testament to the character of the group. He said: "It shows the strength of the group now and the character we have in the dressing room.
"Today I was proud to be a part of that team. I'm sure a lot of questions were being asked about the players but I thought we handled it really well today and on another day we go on and win that game."
Josh Sargent scored the only goal of the game 15 minutes from time, but Sunderland had earlier twice hit the woodwork - once when Ross Stewart saw a shot brilliantly turned onto the crossbar by Tim Krul, and later when Ellis Simms' downward header came back off the post. Sunderland also a shot cleared off the line, and several more goalbound efforts blocked.
READ NEXT:
- Sunderland 0-1 Norwich City report as Black Cats begin post-Alex Neil era with a home defeat
- Kristjaan Speakman provides update amid Alex Neil's impending Stoke City switch from Sunderland
- Sunderland target Edouard Michut is at the Stadium of Light amid report a deal is agreed
- Sunderland put existing backroom staff in charge against Norwich in Alex Neil's absence
- Alex Neil's impending departure to Stoke City exposes fault lines at Sunderland
