Phil and James react to Sunderland 2-1 West Brom and talk next manager

Sunderland Echo

Transcript

00:00 Hello Phil Smith and James Copley here for the Sunderland Echo reacting to Sunderland's

00:06 2-1 win against West Brom at the Stadium of Light. Phil I'm going to start, it's a positive

00:11 video this, but I'm going to start with referees. We don't usually talk about them but today

00:16 was on another level. Joe Bellingham should have had a goal stand, it was Riltroff's side

00:21 which is still baffling me now. There were several decisions, goal kicks on either side,

00:27 Dan Ballard probably should have been sent off as well but in the lead up to that there

00:32 was a foul on Neil, it was just a bit of a mad one wasn't it? Both sides, I think that's

00:37 the thing, you're not coming at it from a Sunderland or a West Brom perspective, just

00:41 decisions that were really difficult to get your head around. We do criticise referees

00:45 too much but a lot of times you think well it's a marginal call, it's happening at speed,

00:50 emotions are high but we should be kinder. The offside, it's not marginal, it's absolutely

00:54 obvious. The Roberts penalty where he doesn't go back and book anyone who's scythed down

00:59 Roberts, who's scythed down Clark, you just can't see the thought process. It was a really

01:02 difficult one to get your head around today and thankfully we can stand here and say that

01:06 from a Sunderland perspective it hasn't impacted the result. It's frustrating when you can't

01:12 see why the decision's been made. We'll move on to the positives, obviously Sunderland

01:17 getting the win. First half was a little bit shaky, I thought West Brom looked really good

01:21 defensively but at the end of the game Sunderland have ran out two on winners, went 2-0 up.

01:27 Brilliant header from Dan Ballard, Alex Pritchard coming on to change the game, two assists,

01:32 fantastic finish by Dan Neal. Adil Ashish as well hit the post, there was chances there

01:37 for Sunderland, they did play well in patches. Mike Dodds visibly delighted after the game,

01:43 talking about the Leeds game now on Tuesday, it's a quick turnaround but in terms of today

01:47 the reaction to Tony Mowbray's second was a positive one. It was, yeah, and I think

01:52 what I would say is credit Mike Dodds for recognising that there wasn't too much to

01:57 change if you like and in some ways you feel a bit for Mowbray because not a great deal

02:02 changed today other than Ballard put his header in the back of a net where in recent weeks

02:06 he's been putting them wide and a West Brom player slips on the ball which means that

02:10 Pritchard can fire Neal through. And Joe Buck front of something Mowbray's done this season.

02:14 Exactly, exactly and it was interesting, we were just speaking to Carlos Colbran there

02:17 actually and he said that they'd actually prepped for Job to go up front because watching

02:20 Sunderland's last three or four games he said it was the obvious solution to the problems

02:24 that we were having. So, listen, I think you've got to give Dodds a lot of credit, West Brom

02:27 are a good side, the reaction he got from the players was spot on but I think you do

02:32 also spare a thought for Mowbray as well because that is very much his team, they played with

02:36 the stamp of his team and I think they got the win that he would have deserved for the

02:41 last few weeks but listen, credit Dodds, he went through a really tough time last time

02:44 he had this gig in the Doncaster and Champham games and he showed he's a very good coach,

02:48 he showed that the players respect him and listen, he leads at night on chasing night,

02:53 no appointment yet, he's given himself a chance, whether it's for a longer interim spell, I'm

02:57 telling you, he's very highly rated and if he gets a couple of results he's got a chance.

03:02 Just on that question, obviously the manager question, Sunderland still without a permanent

03:05 manager, Mike Dodds still caretaker, as you say he's done his chances, no harm, we're

03:09 fully expecting him to be in charge for the Leeds game, he's pretty much said as much

03:14 and then who knows after that.

03:15 Yeah, exactly, I think one of the things that Freddie early on was made clear, there was

03:19 no immediate successor, they were going to go through their interview process, they were

03:22 going to be quite rigorous and I think part of that was because they genuinely believe

03:26 that Mike Dodds is an excellent coach and they felt he was a safe pair of hands.

03:30 If you think that, I think it kind of follows that if he has a massive impact he's going

03:33 to come into contention isn't he?

03:35 Now I'm not saying, I think it's obvious it's Sunderland interviewing a large number of

03:38 candidates so any one of them could impress and come into the thinking but as far as we

03:42 are standing right now, Dodds is going to be in charge on Tuesday and he's got an opportunity.

03:47 And if he gets six points from two games he won't have done his chances any harm but yes

03:51 keep up to date with all of the latest manager goings on and the build up to the Leeds United

03:57 game over on the Sunderland.co website and thank you very much for watching.

Category

Transcript

Recommended