#onthewhistle as Sunderland beat Cardiff City

Sunderland Echo

Phil Smith is joined by Jeff Brown to discuss the 2-0 win over Cardiff City and to answer reader questions

Transcript

00:00Hello there and welcome to the first edition of the new season of On The Whistle from the

00:14Cardiff City Press Room. You can just see the King watching over us, so let's hope he

00:18enjoys it. I'm delighted to be joined by Geoff Brown, who of course you all know from

00:22Look North and various other enterprises these days. Geoff, thanks for joining me. No problem.

00:26Simon started with three points. What did you make of the performance? For a first off

00:31under a new coach, you couldn't ask for more really. He can never ask for more to win your

00:36first game of the season. For him personally and for the club to get off to such a good

00:40start probably helped that they played a Cardiff team who looked like they are still getting

00:47to grips with the changes they've had over the summer and never really looked like scoring.

00:52They suddenly had not much possession, the few chances that there were, and they took

00:59two of them. That was it, you couldn't ask for more. It wasn't quite what we expected.

01:03We heard a lot about the high press and getting back to the possession football and we were

01:08just beating to the breeze there in this press conference. He pretty much admitted that wasn't

01:11the game he expected because Cardiff didn't threaten but they did dominate, didn't they?

01:14I don't know whether we should be positive that someone ground it out and didn't create

01:18many chances or a little bit concerned that they weren't really in the game.

01:22I think the one message that he'll take away and all the fans will, great three points

01:28but they still lack that threat in the box. My ender isn't the answer, not at the minute.

01:34He said himself after the game, they've got lots of strikers but just not experienced

01:40enough to be carrying any of them, to carry the team through the whole season. He had

01:46a fantastic chance, wonderfully carved out by Roberts and Job. Came in first time, keeper

01:53just managed to stick it out the foot. Should really have finished it.

01:56And it's not just the goals, there's a second half actually, something that would

01:58pin back and sometimes in football you have to go long, don't you? You have to hit the

02:02big man, to use the old phrase, and some of these don't really have that option.

02:05Yes, and he's not strong enough. He's not strong enough on the ball, he's not strong

02:07enough to win it back and you felt for him a little bit because he didn't have an awful

02:13lot of support up there because some of them were pinned back so much. They were well organised,

02:19they never really looked like they were going to concede and then of course, Jack Clark

02:25does what he can do.

02:26That's what he does and that's a big positive isn't it, you mentioned that, because Ballard

02:29is one of Summerland's best players and we were all a bit worried when he got that injury.

02:32Alissio was good, Denis Sertain was excellent, in the field, Brown was canny wasn't he?

02:36That is a big positive. Some of the times, having it look that well organised this year,

02:42that was probably the big takeaway from today do you think?

02:44Yes, definitely, because when it all boils down to it, there were a couple of saves in

02:50the first half for Anthony Paterson to make but apart from that and a half chance for

02:55Ramsey, really for all Cardiff's possession, Summerland actually managed the game really well.

03:00So, I'll take a few questions from you. I've had Kevin asked about Denis Sertain and he

03:04says that when he's fit, he looks like one of the best left backs in the division.

03:08It's massive isn't it, he doesn't look impacted by his injury at all and actually going forward

03:11today, I mean Clark is brilliant but it's another dimension when he's got Sertain

03:15overlapping him. That was a big problem last year wasn't it, when Clark was pretty much

03:19doing it by himself. The other thing about Sertain was that he's obviously an attacking

03:25threat as well from set pieces. I mean, to score a goal from a set piece was a bit of a reality.

03:30So, he set up the first one, had a good chance for a similar sort of range in the second half,

03:35headed it into the ground. Couldn't decide whether to head it back or go for goal but

03:41that will be a new dimension which should be much, much needed.

03:45And, you know, there'll be a competition when Ballard's back. It'll be nice to see

03:47Elisa and Sertain in the team because they're two good players that we didn't see enough of

03:50last year. Yeah, I think Elisa, when he first came in, he thought this kid has really got

03:54something and then he just had so many injuries in and out, in and out. It's been a tough time

04:00for him but it was lovely to see him get game time and look comfortable.

04:04Two big positives there. Okay, so Northern Meerkat, that's a great Twitter handle,

04:08says, will we get away with surrendering that much possession and territory to a team

04:11better than Cardiff? It's a fair point, isn't it? Because, like, it was a really good three

04:16points today. Lots of positives but there's a lot of work on him. You know, you can talk a little

04:20bit about, we've just been speaking to Labreece there and he was under no illusions, was he? He

04:24was very much not quite what he expected from the game and pleased with a lot of what he saw,

04:28the character side of things, but obviously gave us the impression he's got a lot of work to do.

04:31Yes, I think any Sunderland fan who saw it would admit that if it had been a better,

04:36more clinical team than Cardiff, then it could have been a different result. But fair play to

04:41them, you know, they had a tough sort of 10-15 minutes to start with and then got the goal out

04:46of nothing and then looked in control up until half-time. Cardiff came again second half but,

04:52you know, hey, in the end, you can't argue. You only play who you're playing.

04:57It did look dangerous on the break. Obviously Roberts, I think, looks back to Roberts and,

05:02although he was quiet in the first half, I mean, Job in the second half was at the heart of a lot

05:05of good play, wasn't he? That was a brilliant little tackle he made to win the ball back.

05:09You can see the talent he's got for someone so young, can't you?

05:12It seems to have developed a lot more strength as well. He looks a stronger player all around

05:16but the move of the game where Roberts turned and created the opening for Job and the first

05:21time ball across to my end. If it had gone in, it would have been perfect.

05:27Last question from Ross. How far can this team go if a striker joins? How optimistic

05:31are you generally, Geoff, for this season? If a striker, if, you know, everybody...

05:37If Clarke's in is a big one. That was the difference between two teams today,

05:41really, wasn't it? It was a good move but Clarke, that individual quality,

05:45it's not this level, is it? I can't believe he's not in the Premier League.

05:48No, I know, I know. You've just got to keep your fingers crossed.

05:52With a proven striker, they are hard to come by, but if that team had a proven striker and had an

05:58outlet and someone who's going to hold the ball up, then it could be challenging for the play-offs.

06:04At the moment, you'd think it would be a bit of a long shot without that,

06:08without someone who's going to guarantee you 15, 20 goals a season.

06:12There we go. On that mostly positive note, we'll leave it there, Geoff. Thank you very

06:15much for your time. Thanks, everyone, for sending your comments in and we will see you sometime next

06:19week. Cheers.

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