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Sunderland 2-1 Cardiff City: Phil Smith and James Copley react
Sunderland Echo
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08/03/2025
Our writers deliver their verdict as Sunderland secure a late win
Category
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Sports
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00:00
Hello, welcome to the Stadium of Light. Sunderland have just beaten Cardiff City 2-1 in the Championship.
00:06
Phil, I said after the Sheffield Wednesday game at Hillsborough, Sunderland got the job done, but that wasn't pretty.
00:11
I feel like it's been some repeat of them.
00:13
Yeah, well it was weird, wasn't it? Because the first 20-25 minutes I was just absolutely loving life.
00:17
Like, sun's out, Mundell's absolutely flying, Sunderland are playing great football.
00:21
I thought Cardiff looked like they didn't really have much of a prayer.
00:24
I thought it was excellent. And then it was just kind of a bit of the same old story, really, at home of late.
00:29
A bit of sloppiness in midfield. Did they get a little bit complacent in the game? I don't know.
00:32
Cardiff obviously stepped in a bit. I thought the Roberts injury really did disrupt Sunderland. I thought that was obvious.
00:37
Sucked the momentum out of the game, I thought.
00:39
Yeah, and then another, like, sloppy goal. Start of the second half, probably.
00:42
Look, they got the job done in the end, and that's the main thing.
00:44
But yeah, it was weird, because it wasn't like a poor performance at times.
00:47
There was some really, really good stuff in it.
00:49
It was just, we're not a very clinical, ruthless team, are we?
00:52
No, we're not.
00:53
Although we got the job done today, I think we did see that again.
00:55
Yeah, there was plenty of chances. I thought Eliezer Maienda looked really good with his goal again.
00:58
Fantastic, yeah.
00:59
Wilson Isidore coming off the bench to impact things.
01:02
We've only seen Cardiff's goal once in the flesh, haven't we, Phil?
01:05
We haven't had the chance to watch it back.
01:07
What was your good feeling in real time?
01:09
Because mine was that you should have possibly done better.
01:11
A lot of people online saying that perhaps there's a foul in there.
01:14
A lot of other people online saying that although there is a foul in there,
01:17
he still needs to be stronger and still needs to come out on the score.
01:19
Well, to me, I've only seen it first, so I might watch this back and think this is the worst take of all time.
01:24
Chewing into one the whistle, I think.
01:25
It looked fairly obvious to me that the striker swung an arm actually nowhere near the ball and fouled Paterson.
01:29
So, for me, it's a foul.
01:30
At the same time, should he probably still be claiming what is a pretty routine cross from deep?
01:34
Probably.
01:35
Both things could be true.
01:36
Yes, that's probably where I sit on it at the moment.
01:37
I would have to watch it back.
01:38
It's clearly, it's definitely an error, of course.
01:40
It did appear that it was a stunning save from Salah when he pushed on the inside of the post.
01:44
So, let's be fair as that.
01:45
Yeah, yeah.
01:46
I still haven't seen that one back either yet.
01:48
But that was a really important moment in the game.
01:50
It was really odd because I felt like it was about 75 minutes when it was just swinging from end to end.
01:54
Neither team could nick it.
01:55
I felt like Cardiff just completely sat off the game.
01:57
They almost put 10 men behind the ball.
01:58
And they did to me.
01:59
Completely played into someone's hands.
02:02
And from there, you know, someone was able to build a bit of mental and clever free kick routine to win it.
02:06
So, yeah, it was a bit of a tough watch at times.
02:08
But I thought there were loads of positives.
02:09
You mentioned Miander.
02:10
I thought he was terrific.
02:11
All game.
02:12
Not just the goal.
02:13
I think he's developing one of the stories, if not the story of the season.
02:18
He has to be one of the best strikers in the championship at the moment.
02:20
So, 12 goal contributions.
02:21
Has to be.
02:22
And I also thought that Romain Mundell and Alan Brown looked really, really sharp.
02:25
Mundell, at the moment, maybe holding on to a bit a little bit too long.
02:28
That'll come with time.
02:29
But he was such a threat throughout the game.
02:30
But Brown, 55 minutes.
02:31
Really lively.
02:32
Especially the first half hour.
02:33
Looks like he's going to be a real asset.
02:34
So, yeah, it wasn't always particularly pretty.
02:36
And I do think Cardiff gave someone a big helping hand with their approach late on.
02:39
But plenty of positives.
02:41
Back-to-back wins.
02:42
Home again on Tuesday night.
02:43
There is a lot to enjoy.
02:45
Let's quickly touch on Patrick Roberts.
02:47
Because I think that is a big blow.
02:49
He does come in for a little bit of criticism at times, Patrick Roberts.
02:52
And I can understand why at times.
02:54
But I think when Sunderland play well, Patrick Roberts tends to be playing well.
02:58
We've mentioned it earlier.
02:59
You saw when he came off, it sort of sucked the life out of the game.
03:02
Rigg, who's an excellent footballer, coming on, a midfielder playing at right wing.
03:06
It's just not the same, is it?
03:07
It's not the same.
03:08
Rigg did get better and better.
03:09
I thought the last half hour of the game he was really, really effective.
03:11
And did really, really well.
03:12
But it's not the same.
03:13
You know, Roberts, a lot gets made of the goal and assist.
03:15
But sometimes, we've said at the time, it doesn't always tell you everything.
03:18
I think his contribution to most goals is really important.
03:21
He did get the assist today.
03:22
And listen, with Pavetta out for about a month as well.
03:24
That's a real problem if Roberts is injured.
03:26
Because you are going to have to start playing players out of position.
03:28
And for that first goal, I turn to you, didn't I?
03:30
And say, how many times has Roberts made that exact pass this season?
03:33
And obviously, Mayender does brilliantly to finish it off.
03:36
But he's probably made that pass 20 times.
03:38
It's only resulted in an assist once.
03:39
Yeah, let's hope it was just precautionary.
03:41
And they were just saying there's absolutely no need to take any risk here.
03:44
We'll find out.
03:45
I might be able to give you a little bit of an update on On The Whistle tomorrow.
03:47
But yeah, it is a big concern.
03:49
Especially with Pavetta absent.
03:50
But hopefully, you know, I did think Rick got better and better.
03:53
So, should we call it there?
03:54
Yeah, Sunday Night Raw website for all of the latest Sunday news.
03:57
On The Whistle tomorrow on Sunday.
03:59
A couple of podcasts coming your way on Monday as well.
04:01
Thanks for watching.
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