Sunderland midfielder Dan Neil says previous transfer windows have caused a big dynamic shift in the dressing room after the departure of experienced players.

The Black Cats sold Alex Pritchard to Birmingham City in the January transfer window, having failed to negotiate a new deal with the playmaker, joining Lynden Gooch and Danny Batth on the list of players to leave the club after reaching the Championship play-offs last season.

When you add in the injuries to Corry Evans and Bradley Dack, Sunderland have been without experienced, older heads in their starting line-up, shifting responsibility onto the likes of Neil, Dan Ballard and Jack Clarke.

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"I think it’s been a big dynamic shift within the group,” Neil said following the goalless draw with QPR. "Last week (against Southampton) was a really, really young team.

"I think last week we actually came out all guns blazing in the second half and think we were really, really good, similar to Leicester. We actually wanted to push on and get the winner and that’s probably our naivety with younger lads and they’ve caught us on the break and scored.

"The dynamic has shifted, you had the likes of Danny, Lynden, obviously Corry (Evans) was fit for quite a bit of last year, Pritch. But you’ve almost got a new core group of players now like me, Trai (Hume), Dan Ballard, Jack Clarke, Patrick Roberts, Patto (Anthony Patterson) in goal. It happens in football, just evolving. 

"We need to grow into figureheads in the changing room and help these young lads. We might be young but in terms of games, we’ve played a lot of games at this level now and know what’s coming. I think it’s our job now to try and help these lads who have made that jump to play for Sunderland, help them keep going the same way the likes of Danny Batth, Lynden Gooch helped us."

Luke O'Nien has been the oldest player on the pitch following Pritchard's departure at 29-years-old, but has been suspended for Sunderland's last two games. Boyhood Sunderland fan Neil has taken the armband in his absence, a moment he doesn't take lightly.

"I think whether it’s against Spennymoor in a friendly a few years ago or in a big game in the Championship it’s a massive dream come true," he said. "I don’t take it lightly, I’ve always wanted to do it.

"Luke is going to be back next week so I’m sure he takes the captain’s armband back, but I think I’ve got to use the kind of experiences I’ve had with the armband to just say nothing changes.

"Luke’s got the armband but I need to keep doing what I’m doing, leading by example, keep trying to lead vocally. Nothing changes from that standpoint."

Neil would go on to say the squad's confidence had taken a hit following the six defeats on the bounce, but reiterated the need to used the international break as a reset. 

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He said: “I think it’s natural that the confidence has probably taken a hit, obviously losing a lot of games on the bounce is going to affect confidence.

"We now don’t have a game for two weeks and have stopped the rot. Obviously we wanted three points but we stopped the rot.

"We need to use these two weeks to kind of forget about the last few weeks and realise we are a good team. Hopefully we will have a few bodies back after this international break and use this international break to make sure we’re ready to put up a real fight for the final eight games of the season."