Speaking to the Open Goal podcast, Reading striker Marc McNulty has opened up on the pressure from fans while playing on loan at Sunderland.
Striker Marc McNulty endured a difficult loan spell with Sunderland during the first half of the season. He joined the club on loan from Reading but left in the January transfer window to swap to Hibernian.
Now, McNulty has opened up on the pressure of playing in front of Sunderland fans. At the time, the Black Cats were struggling to live up to the expectations of supporters and McNulty has said that it was “toxic” and “mental”.
He said:
“I am not saying it’s easy playing for not a big team but when you are turning up and playing in front of 30,000, sometimes 40,000 on your back, it is getting the characters in.
“You are going to go through tough times. At Sunderland, the new gaffer had just come in and we went on a run of so many games getting beat and we couldn’t win a game. It was toxic. You know what fans are like and they were going mental. Some boys hadn’t played at a big club before and hadn’t really experienced that.”
In his time at the Stadium of Light, McNulty played in 21 games across all competitions. In the process, he found the back of the net on five occasions, laying on three assists as well.
After leaving Sunderland to join Hibernian on loan, McNulty scored four goals and provided two assists in eight appearances. He has since said he would be open to a return move to Scotland this summer, so it will be interesting to see how his situation with Reading pans out.
