Sunderland 1-0 Portsmouth: Instant reaction to Isidor's back injury issue and nervy win

Sunderland Echo

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00:00Goal. I think we're good to go. Okay, tight 1-0 win for Sunderland against Portmouth at

00:07the Stadium of Light this afternoon. Probably nervier in a hat-tricky do you think, James?

00:11Last five minutes felt a little bit dicey. Yeah, that was not good for my heart rate.

00:15That was far harder than it needed to be. Portmouth obviously went down to ten men as

00:18well. Sunderland probably should have put the game to bed. They had chances. My ender

00:23was perhaps a little bit wasteful, although he did get the assist for Walter Eastall's

00:26goal in the first half. So yeah, I felt like Sunderland should have been further ahead.

00:30Portsmouth did have a few little chances in the first half, I thought, and perhaps should

00:34have done better with a couple of them. But I'm pleased to get the three points, obviously,

00:38but I think some of these players need a little bit of a rest against Stoke on Saturday. That

00:42would leave around two weeks to Derby, the next game. So yeah, it was tense.

00:49It was. It was. It was a weird game, wasn't it, in the sense that Portsmouth, that last

00:53one, sort of piled on the pressure. But Sunderland didn't really have any complete cut to fend

00:57off though. I mean, it's one of those, isn't it, where you look at it and it's three points,

01:01it's a good win. But do they need to be getting two goals? Do they need to be putting these

01:06games to bed a little bit sooner? I think it's obviously really hard to criticise it

01:11when you've come away with a 1-0 win. You would imagine at some point in the future

01:16Sunderland will have to be more clinical against teams like Portsmouth. But they've shown that

01:21they can score multiple goals in a game. I think we can give them that one. So heading

01:27into the run-in, you would like them to improve on that performance. I do think there is mitigation.

01:31They have played a lot of football. It's been a very busy, festive period. And as I say,

01:35with a lot of this squad and this team that played against Portsmouth, probably set to

01:40miss out against Stoke and the FA Cup, I think it just provides a good opportunity.

01:44Yeah, it's coming at a good time, the FA Cup time, isn't it?

01:47Yeah.

01:48Wilson Isidor, it's his eighth goal this season now. It's three and four for him.

01:52And he also got Marlon Pack sent off. It was his capitalisation and a mistake. He was streaking

01:56through, as you've seen him do so many times in recent months. What did you make of his performance?

02:01He looked really sharp, obviously playing off the shoulder of the last man. As you say,

02:05resulting in that Marlon Pack sending off, I thought the finish for the first goal was

02:09really excellent. Shout out to my ender for the assist again. They look like they're developing

02:13a really good partnership. I do think when you play two on top, you do sacrifice a little bit

02:17in midfield, obviously, because you've got one less man. I thought Dan Neal and Job did well.

02:22Back to Isidor, I mean, the finish for the offside goal was absolutely fantastic. I am

02:27a little bit concerned because he's been holding us back now for a little while. He was holding it

02:31in this game. He held it against Sheffield United. He's held it earlier in the season.

02:35You turned to me and said he looks like he's struggling just a little bit. Hopefully,

02:38that was just with a bit of fatigue. I don't want to stir the pot or create things that aren't

02:43there, but he has been holding us back for the past couple of games. I hope that's nothing,

02:47because I think his performances at the moment have been fantastic. Again,

02:50he probably needs the next stoke, doesn't he? Yes, I would probably agree with that. I mean,

02:54when Nazarissen got stripped and came on, I was fully expecting Isidor's number to come up. Then,

02:59obviously, it was my ender who came off my head. Yes, I think Isidor is probably one of those who

03:03will benefit most from having that fortnight break. Also, as well, it has to be said,

03:08we know that someone is probably going to be looking for reinforcements at the top end of

03:11the pitch. You get halfway through January with him not having played that much football and then

03:16the potential to bring someone in later in the month, that's probably only going to be a good

03:20thing for him and his workload as well, because he is getting through a lot at the moment. Some

03:23of them don't have... No, he's played a hell of a lot of football. ...an awful lot of alternatives.

03:28And his strike partner, my ender, as well, I think he's obviously bounced back really well,

03:32hasn't he, from those misses against Blackburn and Stoke. I thought today, whilst he got into

03:37some really good positions, he was perhaps a touch wasteful. I think he could have done better with

03:40a couple of chances. There was also a couple of occasions where he maybe could have attempted

03:44the pass instead of going for the shot, but he does come away from the game with an assist. He

03:49is still only 19, he is still very raw, but I did think he was a threat. So that partnership,

03:53sort of, going forward into the new year is hugely positive, I think. And as you say,

03:58before any reinforcements come as well. Yes, I think that's the thing. You can really see

04:02the partnership form. It's not just two players who have been stuck up there and it's what we

04:05make them do. They are genuinely dovetailing nicely. I mean, that's two assists for my ender

04:10into Isidore now. They are linking up well and creating the chances. I think, obviously,

04:14the 1-0 scoreline and the fact that someone weren't able to put it to bed a little bit sooner

04:18maybe isn't ideal. That being said, on a different day, Isidore had one ruled out for offside with

04:24multiple other chances that sort of went their game. There was a couple of little penalty shouts

04:28as well. I understand one was outside the box, the second one, at the beginning of the second half.

04:34The first one, I'm told from people online that it definitely could have been a penalty. So,

04:39you know, on another day, I could have seen Sunderland scoring more but it's just a shame

04:43that it had to end that way and very nervy towards the end. It wasn't good for the heart rate.

04:48No, it certainly wasn't. But it's three points, Sunderland move on, like you say,

04:52FA Cup action next weekend against Stoke City. We'll be back, we'll be covering that.

04:57Right here watching it. Hopefully, we'll have something positive to report on then.

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