Phil Smith reviews Sunderland v Hull in latest #onthewhistle episode

Sunderland Echo

Phil reports from Hull City and takes questions from Sunderland fans

Transcript

00:00Evening everyone, welcome to the latest edition of On The Whistle.

00:14Circumstances mean I'm going to have to walk and talk, so hopefully this comes across alright.

00:18I'm aware it's a bit windy, so I'm trying to speak as loud as I possibly can, so hopefully

00:22you'll be able to pick me up alright.

00:25Terrific wind for Sunderland at Hull City, really good away performance, you know we

00:28spoke at Wofford and Plymouth about maybe some naivety in their performances, picked

00:33off a little bit, gave up more chances than we used to see in them this season.

00:37Today was a really strong return to form, it was a strange game in that I think Hull

00:41surprised Sunderland, Labreece admitted that to me in his post-match press conference,

00:45he said that he expected Hull to dominate possession, and that's actually not what happened,

00:50Hull sat fairly deep, they looked to play on the counter attack, and Sunderland the

00:53big problem really was that they had to try and get players into the box to create opportunities

00:59to break Hull down, but being wary that if they over-committed they would give Hull a

01:02lot of chances to break.

01:04Hull sort of sat quite deep, they packed a penalty area which meant all the inspiration

01:08for Sunderland had to come from the wide areas, and to be fair I think Roberts and Mundell,

01:12they came up against some strong opponents, I think especially Louis Coylet right back

01:15against Mundell was terrific, and maybe Sunderland's two wingers just weren't quite at their best.

01:20The second half had just completely changed, it was a lot more what we expected from Hull,

01:24they dominated possession, they looked a real threat, and actually it's kind of ironic that

01:28in Sunderland's worst spell of the game, they actually scored their goal, Dan Neal with

01:32a brilliant tackle, and then Wilson Isidore doing the rest with it, I mean it's an amazing

01:36goal.

01:37A strange one in that Hull were complaining because they were saying that the referee

01:40blocked their short corner essentially, he was in the wrong position, I can understand

01:44that and it actually happened a few times to Sunderland, twice Dan Neal, the referee

01:47was in his way.

01:49Having said that, it's really good from Dan Neal and Isidore, it's not as if it's an easy

01:52finish, he's got a run, probably 70 yards, lovely little flick to get away from the defender

01:57and then a little chip finish, so that was really promising.

02:00I think what was really great from a Sunderland perspective was after that, there was still

02:03over half an hour of the game left, and Sunderland barely conceded a chance.

02:07I can't remember Paterson making a save, and I think speaking to Lebris there, he was saying

02:11that's the most exciting thing for him, because it shows his team are developing, it shows

02:16that they should be playing with more maturity, they're learning from their experiences and

02:19they're getting better.

02:20And I think that's what's really exciting, you still feel like there's more to come from

02:23this team.

02:24So, I'm afraid I've had to write your questions on my hand, so I'm hoping that this will spark

02:32some inspiration.

02:33First and foremost, Mike Smith, thanks for your question, he asked about the injury situation

02:37for Luton, will there be any players back?

02:39I suspect not.

02:42I think that Ballard and Mienda will be close for that game, Lebris' view is that they might

02:47be back for Wednesday, but they'll definitely be back for Saturday.

02:50To be honest, I would be surprised if they risked either of them away at Luton.

02:53I don't think it's worth the risk.

02:55I think they'll take the view of both of them, that there's players performing well in their

02:57positions and they can just sort of, they can let them recover properly, maybe use them

03:02against Saturday, and then you've got a free week where they can really step up their recovery.

03:07So yeah, there's a chance Ballard and Mienda could be back on the bench, but I wouldn't

03:10expect anything more than that, and to be honest, I would be surprised if they make

03:13it.

03:14The next question is from Ethan, thanks Ethan, who asks about whether Sunderland will financially

03:20be able to afford Ballard and the deals for Wilson Isidor and Chris Mepham next summer.

03:25Mepham, you know, absolutely outstanding today.

03:28I think Hull probably had a case when Mepham looked like he handled the ball, Puerta was

03:33about to run through on goal and the referee didn't give it, and Sunderland were probably

03:36lucky to get away with that one.

03:37I think Hull had a much more legitimate complaint about that than they did the Sunderland goal.

03:42Having said that, that was Mepham's one error in what I thought was a quite outstanding

03:46performance.

03:47Obviously, Sunderland, man for man mark, and with the pace that Hull have, you're putting

03:52a huge amount of pressure on your defenders and they have to be excellent, and I thought

03:55Mepham's position and his awareness was top draw.

03:59Mepham's situation is that he's out of contract at Bournemouth next summer, but they do have

04:03an option to extend for one year, so I highly doubt he'll be a free agent, because if you

04:07think about it from Bournemouth's perspective, you know, Mepham's going to be a player who,

04:11especially if he keeps performing like he does for Sunderland, you know, they're going

04:13to want to get a return on him and they're going to know that there's a chance to get

04:17a return on him.

04:18So I would be surprised if they didn't trigger that extension, and then obviously you're

04:21looking at paying a fee.

04:22However, even then he would still only have one year on it.

04:25So I would like to think that Sunderland will be in contention if that's the case, and hopefully

04:29Mepham is enjoying life at Sunderland and wants to stay.

04:34I definitely think it's something that Sunderland financially could compete for, the caveat

04:37to that being that with the level of his performance at the moment, you know, teams with parachute

04:42payments, big budgets, maybe even teams at the bottom of the Premier League, I think

04:45will be alert to his performances and would be interested.

04:48So I think that would potentially be the harder of the two to do.

04:51Isidore's slightly different because there's an option to buy, so there is a pre-arranged

04:56fee.

04:57I think Isidore has made clear that he's, although it's an initial loan, he's very much

05:00come here to become a Sunderland player for the long term.

05:03So I think that Sunderland would be able to do that deal.

05:06I think Isidore would want to stay if he keeps on this form, Sunderland are definitely going

05:09to do it.

05:10So I can see that happening.

05:11As I've mentioned in a previous video as well, there is some kind of obligation whereby performance

05:16related, not sure whether it's promotion or what, but Sunderland do actually have to buy

05:20him if he meets certain criteria.

05:22So that's one to watch as well.

05:23So yeah, I would expect Sunderland to be in the mix of both of them, to be honest.

05:26But at this stage, I would say that Meppen's the more difficult one because I think there's

05:29a good chance that other teams will come into that equation if he keeps playing as well

05:32as he does.

05:33Adam, thanks Adam for your question.

05:36He asked about whether Ballard gets in the team with Meppen playing so well.

05:39I think it gives Sunderland the luxury of giving Ballard a lot of time to recover.

05:43This ankle injury that he sort of came off the bench with but didn't seem to be able

05:46to fully get over.

05:47I think Sunderland are in a position where they can just say, look, there's no rush for

05:50you at the moment.

05:51My honest answer to this question is right now Ballard doesn't get in the team because

05:540-9 and Meppen are doing brilliantly.

05:55I don't think you can unsettle it.

05:57The one thing I would say is I think at some point the opportunity will be open.

06:01We've seen it before.

06:02Injury, suspension.

06:03There'll be a time when Ballard comes back into the team.

06:05Again, Trey Hulme nearly took a yellow card late on.

06:08He would have been suspended for one game.

06:09And that scenario, I think Ballard comes in and Sunderland go to back three with 0-9 on

06:13the right of it.

06:14So yeah, to be honest, Adam, I think Meppen is now sort of first choice along 0-9 for

06:18the time being.

06:19But experience tells me that he'll get an opportunity to come back in pretty soon.

06:23Yeah, and a few of you asked, I put this all into one because there's lots of similar questions

06:28asking about whether I think that Sunderland will use the squad more in the days ahead

06:32and whether I think there'll be much rotation for Luton.

06:34I don't think there'll be a huge amount, to be honest.

06:36I think that what we're seeing from Lebris is that he really values keeping the squad

06:39consistent, keeping the team consistent.

06:42He feels that the chemistry of the team is really important and that making significant

06:45changes potentially upsets that.

06:47So the only one that you could potentially see is Alan Brown coming in.

06:50I think a lot of people have mentioned that.

06:51I think at some point this week I could see Brown coming in to give Chris Rigg a rest.

06:55But to be honest, after a good win and a good performance and knowing how Lebris operates,

06:59I think he'll stay the same again at Luton.

07:01And if he has to change it from the bench, then at Oxford he'll do that.

07:04So there we go, that's my sort of verdict on the game.

07:07Thanks all for your questions.

07:08Thanks for watching.

07:09Hopefully the win factor's not too high and I'll see you again in midweek.

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