Sunderland 0-0 QPR: Phil Smith's verdict

Sunderland Echo

Phil answers questions from readers in the latest episode of #onthewhistle

Transcript

00:00Hello everyone and welcome to the latest edition of On The Whistle. Thanks for joining me.

00:14Apologies if I'm not my absolute best. It's been a long day and I'm feeling very tired

00:19but I thought why not have a late night chat about Sunderland. I've poured myself a glass

00:23of whiskey so let's get straight into it. Sunderland nil, QPR nil. I think it's a game

00:28that you probably from a Sunderland perspective have to break down into two quite distinct

00:32parts. The first hour before Job Bellingham's red card, which I have to say I thought probably

00:37was a red card. No malice in the challenge whatsoever but ultimately he was late, his

00:42studs were up. I think if that's an opposition player makes that challenge I think you're

00:45screaming for a red and I think Job's reaction summed it up really. I think he knew and I

00:51think from a Sunderland perspective no need for an overreaction or any drama. Job's been

00:55amazing. He plays a high intensity, combative midfield role. He's been late in this challenge

01:01and hopefully some of it will just be learned from. I think from a Sunderland perspective

01:06I think the first hour of the game was a little bit disappointing. I think albeit they still

01:11had some pretty good chances in the first half. Hulme played a patent whistle door that

01:15he blasted just wide of the far post. Dan Neal obviously hit the post with that brilliant

01:19effort from about 20 yards where he took the volley on first time. I thought QPR shaded

01:25it in the first hour. Not complete dominance. I didn't think Sunderland were poor. They

01:28certainly didn't dominate the game. But I thought that sometimes Sunderland played through

01:33QPR's press really, really nicely. A lot of times they kind of struggled. QPR put some

01:38really dangerous crosses into the box. I think if they had a more confident striker up front

01:42and a better finisher up front I think they would have taken the lead at some stage through

01:46that first phase. After the Joe Bellingham red card I have to say that for half an hour

01:52I think Sunderland's performance was in the context of where they were in the game pretty

01:56much flawless. There was a five minute period after the red where Sunderland understandably

02:01looked shaken and I thought QPR might score. The striker obviously had a big chance where

02:05he wrapped one just wide of the far post. Jimmy Dunne then had a close range header

02:10where he headed it thankfully straight to Simon Moore but that was a really big opportunity

02:14and he probably should have done better. After that I can only remember QPR having shot some

02:20distance. I never actually felt like Sunderland were in danger of conceding unless a 30-yard

02:24or a 25-yard effort flew in the top corner. I thought that Sunderland understood immediately

02:30that a point was going to be a good point. I think that they dug in really, really well

02:34and defended their box well. Again, Chris Meckham who maybe in the first half hadn't

02:39been at his absolute sharpest that we've seen him. I thought he was brilliant in the last

02:4320-25 minutes winning the first contact at corners, drawing fouls, slowing the game down.

02:49I think it's full credit to Sunderland that ultimately at the end of the day they

02:53come out of a really, really difficult game with a very valuable point. Another clean

02:57sheet and I think it's one that ultimately QPR will feel a bit aggrieved that they didn't

03:04win three points. I think you can see they're a team that are missing key players in the

03:08final third. They're lacking a bit of confidence but I feel like because of the discipline

03:13Sunderland showed in the last half hour they deserved that point because I think to limit

03:17a team to as little as they did with 10 men I think was impressive.

03:22So the first question I've got in, let's get straight into your questions, is from Chris.

03:25He says, are you disappointed you didn't win or is it a point gained? To be honest, I say

03:33it very, very much is a point gained. I know obviously the table, QPR are second bottom

03:39and they're struggling. I was so impressed with the job that Marius Hifuentes did last

03:43season. I expected QPR to be organised. I expected them to be strong on home turf. I

03:49thought they were good. I think sometimes it kind of shows just why a championship is

03:53such a competitive division. I think you've got to show a lot of respect to the way they

03:57played. Like I said, I thought the pressing was good. They got in some dangerous areas.

04:01I thought they looked like a half decent championship team, albeit lacking quality in the final

04:06third. And I think that from Sunderland's perspective, yes, it was a bit disappointing

04:10that they weren't at their best for the first hour. But I think, again, we spoke about the

04:13whole game, about how the confidence and the unity you can take from in that circumstance

04:19grinding out a win. I think for Sunderland to grind out a point in these circumstances

04:24is a big plus for me. I think that Sunderland have been so good at home all season so far.

04:30If away from home you can be resilient and you can be tough to break down and pick up

04:35points here and there, pick up wins here and there as they've done, then you're not going

04:38to be far off. So for me, I very much am taking the positives from it. I think it's

04:43a point gained.

04:45So the next question is Michael saying, will Rigg be available for Preston? Yeah, so we

04:54don't know exactly what the nature of the issue is with Chris Rigg, why he missed the

04:59game. LaBrie said afterwards he didn't want to comment on it too much because his quote

05:04was, I'm not a doctor. As far as we understand that Rigg had an issue towards the end of

05:08the week in training. It's been checked out and basically he's fine in terms of there

05:14are no long-term issues. So LaBrie said he was confident the Rigg would return to training

05:19next week. That's obviously really great news for the player first and foremost, but also

05:23for the team. So if you want my honest opinion, I would say personally, I think he's a major

05:28doubt for Preston. I think that there won't be a lot of training time between now and

05:32then. I don't think Sunderland will want to risk someone of his age if he's had a bit

05:36of an issue over the last week. I think they'll want to be cautious. Clearly, if he's fully

05:40fit and available, they'll pick him because with Job's red card, they certainly need him.

05:44But I think at this point, I would think it would be safe to assume that he's a big, big

05:48doubt for that Preston game. But obviously we'll wait and see. Mike says, hi Mike. He

05:53says LaBrie has certainly built on some resilience, saw that Luton in a different way here. QPR

05:57never had a sniff after the red. Completely agree with that. Really impressive. Other

06:01than the first couple of minutes, like I said, when they had those chances, I didn't think

06:03they created much. There is depth, which will be tested if Rigg is out for long with

06:09Job. Brings the Hendo return in January into full focus for me. Sam Edd risked this week?

06:16Yeah, I just don't think Sam Edd's going to be ready. As far as I'm aware, he's not even

06:20in full training. He certainly wasn't training with the team on Tuesday when they had an

06:23open training session. I don't expect Sunderland to rush him back. The main reason why it's

06:28taken so long is because they've been a little cautious and they don't want a risk of recurrence

06:34because they feel that would potentially keep them out for quite a number of months. So

06:37I just don't see them risking Sam Edd, even though I'll be it. Clearly it would be very

06:42useful. But yeah, I think it's a good point in terms of the Henderson thing that what

06:48feels like a position of strength can turn very, very, very quickly. And we've seen that

06:51this week with all of a sudden with Job and Rigg. Now, Gaz, Clayton, Chris, all asking

06:59the big question, I think we've all got really, is that if Rigg doesn't make it on Wednesday,

07:02which is a distinct possibility, how's Labriez going to do it? It's actually a really, really

07:07difficult one to guess, isn't it? Now, the obvious thing would be to say that you've

07:11got Aushish, who scored for the under-21s this morning. You've got Oleksich, who's someone

07:15they paid a lot of money for. It's time to give them their goal. But we know that Labriez

07:19has been ultra-cautious with Oleksich. He doesn't want to expose him too early. He feels

07:24like he's still getting grips with the language, with the game model, and he doesn't want to

07:27knock his confidence by putting them in too early. Given that he hasn't risked him even

07:31with minutes off the bench, safe home to Oxford, is he going to suddenly throw him in at the

07:35start and wait at present? I find it quite hard to see that. I think it's unlikely. So

07:40for me, it's probably, we're looking at a formation change, I think would be my guess.

07:45If Ballard's fit, do you go with back three, play Mepham, Ballard 0-9, and that obviously

07:50allows you to bring another forward in? Or, which I think is a possibility, do you go

07:54for with a 4-4-2? Is it a chance to give Aaron Connolly his first start? Something to basically

07:59play with a 4-4-2 out of possession anyway. The only difference would be that you'd be

08:02asking either Isidoro or Connolly basically to drop in and join in with those triangles

08:08in possession. But it's going to be really interesting because I think one of the biggest

08:11strengths of Lebris is he's been really, he's had real clarity with how he sets the

08:15team up. He's relied on a small core of players and they've obviously had really good understanding

08:19as a result. The downside is that when you pick up a few injuries, you're potentially

08:23bringing in players who are short of fitness and rhythm. So it's going to be a really interesting

08:27challenge. Obviously, fingers crossed that Chris Rigg is available for Wednesday, but

08:31if not, it's going to be a really interesting test of Lebris' coaching ingenuity. So yeah,

08:36thanks for your questions. Hopefully, you've enjoyed the video. Like I say, I think for

08:39me, not what we wanted from the game, not what we hoped Sunderland would produce, but

08:43ultimately, I think it's another point in the right direction and I think full credit

08:47to the players and the staff. I think one thing you can say about the Sunderland team

08:51is this season is they're never giving up and they're fighting for every point. Yeah,

08:55it's another point on the board. Hopefully, three more come on Wednesday. Thanks for watching.

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