Sunderland 2-0 Oxford assessed in #onthewhistle

Sunderland Echo

Phil discusses Sunderland's win over Oxford United and takes questions from readers

Transcript

00:00Hi everyone, welcome to the latest edition of On The Whistle. Thanks so much for sending

00:13your questions in. Apologies that it's just me again today, no James, just for some logistical

00:17reasons but I promise we'll both be back soon. What a win for Sunderland, that's now 28 points

00:23from 12 games, what an incredible start of the season. And for me, I thought today was

00:28the most complete performance they've produced. I think at different times this season we've

00:31seen them show every part of the game that you want to see but never at the same time.

00:35So we've seen really resilient defensive performances like at Luton, we've seen really good counter-attacking,

00:41we have seen it at home, we've seen them sort of blow teams away with a spell of pressing,

00:44with a spell of really good football. Today I thought they were able to put it all together.

00:48You know, I thought some of the football was as good as anything. We saw under Tony Mowbray

00:52the little sort of interplay down the right-hand side with Roberts, the way the midfield three

00:56kept passing it through the press, it was a real sort of treat to watch. And at the other end,

01:00they barely gave up a chance. And OK, Oxford might not be the strongest opponent that Sunderland

01:04will face all season but they're not to be taken lightly. They've drawn the last five games,

01:07they got draws with Burnley and West Brom in that time. So I think for Sunderland to exert

01:11such complete control over the game is something that's really exciting and it's maybe the first

01:15time that I've actually gone, hang on, are we looking at a genuine promotion contender here?

01:19Of course, there's still a lot of football to be played but I think to see them play at that level

01:23for 90 minutes was so exciting. A few of you mentioned in the comments about, yeah,

01:26it would have been nice to see them be more ruthless in the first half and I can certainly

01:29understand that point of view. But I think you've also got to say that was an exceptional

01:33all-round performance. I never really felt Sunderland were in danger. So I think you just

01:37have to give a lot of credit to Lebris and the players, what exciting time this is.

01:41Getting to your questions now, thanks so much for sending them in. Boxio Pat says,

01:44how close is Mienda to being fit? Isidore getting injured is disappointing but with Conley and

01:47Mienda, at least we have decent backup. Well, I think the good news is I don't think Isidore

01:51has a particularly serious injury. Speaking to Lebris after the game, I asked him about that and

01:55he said it was just an impact injury. It's not a muscle problem. Took a bit of a whack on the knee.

02:00He had it sort of iced up, I think. They'll obviously have to wait and see how it settles,

02:03see if there is any damage early next week. But he was moving okay after the game. He seemed

02:07fairly comfortable. You may have seen he was dancing and singing with the fans, which I think

02:11is a positive sign. So we shouldn't rule him out for QPR yet, not by any stretch. Mienda will be

02:16fit for the next game. He could have been involved today. Lebris just felt it wasn't sensible to

02:21include him because there's always a high risk with a muscle injury of recurrence. He knew he had

02:25Isidore and Conley. He didn't feel he needed to push Mienda and he now feels with another week

02:29of full training, he'll just be in a perfect position, A, to be fully fit and make an impact

02:33and to avoid the risk of a recurrence. On that note as well, Anthony Patterson, I asked Lebris

02:38about. He said, again, it's only a little injury. I think at this stage, he probably is a doubt for

02:42QPR, but he's definitely not ruled out. So really encouraging on that front. And credit Simon Moore,

02:46who I didn't think had loads to do today, but when he did, I thought he did really professionally.

02:49There was one dangerous counter where he swept up, ran off his line clear that his handling was good.

02:54I think that was a big tick for him as well. Obviously, he'll take a lot of confidence from

02:57his cutting sheet. So yeah, hopefully, box your pats. That covers all that off. Chris Liddell says,

03:04is it a little frustrating that French players like Oleksii are not getting a bit more game time

03:07off the bench? Today was a surely good chance to get even 10 minutes. Yeah, I do kind of agree with

03:13that. I'm loathe to pick out any negatives really today because it was such a good all-round

03:16performance. And I think we have to say at this stage that the stability and consistency Lebris

03:20has brought to the team has been a big factor of why they've played so well. So I can understand

03:24why he's reluctant to change it too much. I just felt the last 15, 20 minutes of the game, yeah,

03:29it was by no means game over. They were 2-0 up. But I thought it certainly would have been a good

03:32chance to give Watson some minutes. He hasn't had any this week. I know he came on right at the end

03:36for Isidore, but maybe there was a chance there to get a little bit more exposure to him. Oleksii,

03:41again, maybe you could have got him on for a few minutes towards the end, just to give him a feel

03:45of the stadium alive. Maybe that's one slight disappointment from the day. But I'm loathe to

03:52criticise Lebris when the team's doing so well, but I kind of get your point, Chris. I certainly

03:56think Watson maybe would have liked to have a bit of a run at those tiring Oxford legs for 15,

04:0020 minutes more. But I think we can let Lebris off, can't we?

04:04Ian says, are we now going to be happy with just a playoff place finish? Yeah, I think we have to

04:09be, don't we? Listen, I understand that swimming shouldn't fear anyone and they should now consider

04:13themselves to be genuine automatic promotion contenders. I don't think there's any doubt

04:17about that. But we also have to respect the budgets and the squad depth that Leeds,

04:21Burnley and Sheffield United have. So I still think to finishing the playoffs would be a good

04:25season and a fantastic return and not to be sniffed at. But yeah, let's be ambitious. Let's

04:30aim high. I don't think any of those teams I've just mentioned have shown that they're probably

04:34as strong as the teams that went up last year. And so yeah, someone should feel confident. They

04:39certainly shouldn't have any fear. I think they've shown that they can compete with anyone.

04:43So, you know, we'll be happy with the playoff place, maybe not happy is the right word,

04:47but I still think that's got to be the overall aim for this season. And I think it's important

04:51that we don't overreact if someone's hit a little bump in the road, because that will

04:54happen at some point this season. We've just got to say that so far it's been exceptional.

05:00And you know, if there is a little bump in the road, I think we've got to accept that

05:03that's championship football. But yeah, really, really exciting, really exciting times.

05:09Tony says, who will score more goals this season, Rig or Bellingham? Yeah, really good

05:13question. It was interesting listening to Lebris in his press conference there. One

05:16of the things he was saying about was the thing that pleased him most about the game

05:19was Job's goal, because he feels he's certainly the defensive structure, a lot of the kind

05:24of shape of the team he's really pleased with and how it's developing. He feels he's got

05:27his message across. And what he was saying was the hardest bit to introduce to the team

05:31and to refine and get right is the final third. And he said that today he saw in Job's goal

05:36signs of what he wants from that, the fact that Job sort of getting on the end of that

05:40cross, getting in the box. I think that's really exciting. I think Job has been brilliant

05:43this season. But the one thing you could say is he hasn't had as many shots from inside

05:46the box as we saw him do last season. That's obviously because he's playing deeper and

05:49he's got more defensive responsibilities. If someone can start getting him into those

05:54areas more regularly, that's a really exciting prospect. So if I had to guess, I would probably

05:58just edge towards Job, Tony, but hopefully they can both keep chipping in, because I

06:02think that's obviously going to be a huge factor.

06:09I thought he was brilliant. I thought that was definitely his best performance of the

06:11season. Showed what he can bring you in that role. So composed and possession. Broke the

06:16Oxford defensive line so much. I loved watching him today.

06:24Yeah, I don't think there's any serious problem there, Mike. I think it was just a little

06:27bit of management. Obviously, he was on the yellow card. He's played a lot of football

06:29this week. And I do think that Lebris is trying to find opportunities to get Yelder

06:33involved. He really rates Yelder and he loves what he brings to the group. You'll know that

06:37you gave him the captain's armband at Preston. You wore the captain's armband in the sort

06:40of change team through pre-season. He really likes Yelder. The players love him. I think

06:44there is almost an appetite to try and get him more involved. So hopefully, I wouldn't

06:49read too much into that. I think he is looking, if he can, to get Yelder on the pitch, because

06:54I think he feels it's important to reward him for what he's doing in training.

06:58And yeah, I think that is about it. We'll finish with Luke who says,

07:01how many points are we going to break the league record by? And will we be promoted

07:05in February or March? Who knows? All we can say is that it's an absolute pleasure to watch

07:10this team at the moment. And as I say, I'm trying to keep my feet on the ground and you

07:14have to accept there's going to be a bump in the road at some point. But I do think

07:17now we're talking about someone who's a promotion contender. I think today really changed my

07:22view of this team because of the complete control they exerted. Fingers crossed that

07:25they'll put QPR next week. Thanks for watching.

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