Sunderland 2-1 Cardiff City: Phil Smith and James Copley react

Sunderland Echo

Our writers deliver their verdict as Sunderland secure a late win

Transcript

00:00Hello, welcome to the Stadium of Light. Sunderland have just beaten Cardiff City 2-1 in the Championship.

00:06Phil, I said after the Sheffield Wednesday game at Hillsborough, Sunderland got the job done, but that wasn't pretty.

00:11I feel like it's been some repeat of them.

00:13Yeah, well it was weird, wasn't it? Because the first 20-25 minutes I was just absolutely loving life.

00:17Like, sun's out, Mundell's absolutely flying, Sunderland are playing great football.

00:21I thought Cardiff looked like they didn't really have much of a prayer.

00:24I thought it was excellent. And then it was just kind of a bit of the same old story, really, at home of late.

00:29A bit of sloppiness in midfield. Did they get a little bit complacent in the game? I don't know.

00:32Cardiff obviously stepped in a bit. I thought the Roberts injury really did disrupt Sunderland. I thought that was obvious.

00:37Sucked the momentum out of the game, I thought.

00:39Yeah, and then another, like, sloppy goal. Start of the second half, probably.

00:42Look, they got the job done in the end, and that's the main thing.

00:44But yeah, it was weird, because it wasn't like a poor performance at times.

00:47There was some really, really good stuff in it.

00:49It was just, we're not a very clinical, ruthless team, are we?

00:52No, we're not.

00:53Although we got the job done today, I think we did see that again.

00:55Yeah, there was plenty of chances. I thought Eliezer Maienda looked really good with his goal again.

00:58Fantastic, yeah.

00:59Wilson Isidore coming off the bench to impact things.

01:02We've only seen Cardiff's goal once in the flesh, haven't we, Phil?

01:05We haven't had the chance to watch it back.

01:07What was your good feeling in real time?

01:09Because mine was that you should have possibly done better.

01:11A lot of people online saying that perhaps there's a foul in there.

01:14A lot of other people online saying that although there is a foul in there,

01:17he still needs to be stronger and still needs to come out on the score.

01:19Well, to me, I've only seen it first, so I might watch this back and think this is the worst take of all time.

01:24Chewing into one the whistle, I think.

01:25It looked fairly obvious to me that the striker swung an arm actually nowhere near the ball and fouled Paterson.

01:29So, for me, it's a foul.

01:30At the same time, should he probably still be claiming what is a pretty routine cross from deep?

01:34Probably.

01:35Both things could be true.

01:36Yes, that's probably where I sit on it at the moment.

01:37I would have to watch it back.

01:38It's clearly, it's definitely an error, of course.

01:40It did appear that it was a stunning save from Salah when he pushed on the inside of the post.

01:44So, let's be fair as that.

01:45Yeah, yeah.

01:46I still haven't seen that one back either yet.

01:48But that was a really important moment in the game.

01:50It was really odd because I felt like it was about 75 minutes when it was just swinging from end to end.

01:54Neither team could nick it.

01:55I felt like Cardiff just completely sat off the game.

01:57They almost put 10 men behind the ball.

01:58And they did to me.

01:59Completely played into someone's hands.

02:02And from there, you know, someone was able to build a bit of mental and clever free kick routine to win it.

02:06So, yeah, it was a bit of a tough watch at times.

02:08But I thought there were loads of positives.

02:09You mentioned Miander.

02:10I thought he was terrific.

02:11All game.

02:12Not just the goal.

02:13I think he's developing one of the stories, if not the story of the season.

02:18He has to be one of the best strikers in the championship at the moment.

02:20So, 12 goal contributions.

02:21Has to be.

02:22And I also thought that Romain Mundell and Alan Brown looked really, really sharp.

02:25Mundell, at the moment, maybe holding on to a bit a little bit too long.

02:28That'll come with time.

02:29But he was such a threat throughout the game.

02:30But Brown, 55 minutes.

02:31Really lively.

02:32Especially the first half hour.

02:33Looks like he's going to be a real asset.

02:34So, yeah, it wasn't always particularly pretty.

02:36And I do think Cardiff gave someone a big helping hand with their approach late on.

02:39But plenty of positives.

02:41Back-to-back wins.

02:42Home again on Tuesday night.

02:43There is a lot to enjoy.

02:45Let's quickly touch on Patrick Roberts.

02:47Because I think that is a big blow.

02:49He does come in for a little bit of criticism at times, Patrick Roberts.

02:52And I can understand why at times.

02:54But I think when Sunderland play well, Patrick Roberts tends to be playing well.

02:58We've mentioned it earlier.

02:59You saw when he came off, it sort of sucked the life out of the game.

03:02Rigg, who's an excellent footballer, coming on, a midfielder playing at right wing.

03:06It's just not the same, is it?

03:07It's not the same.

03:08Rigg did get better and better.

03:09I thought the last half hour of the game he was really, really effective.

03:11And did really, really well.

03:12But it's not the same.

03:13You know, Roberts, a lot gets made of the goal and assist.

03:15But sometimes, we've said at the time, it doesn't always tell you everything.

03:18I think his contribution to most goals is really important.

03:21He did get the assist today.

03:22And listen, with Pavetta out for about a month as well.

03:24That's a real problem if Roberts is injured.

03:26Because you are going to have to start playing players out of position.

03:28And for that first goal, I turn to you, didn't I?

03:30And say, how many times has Roberts made that exact pass this season?

03:33And obviously, Mayender does brilliantly to finish it off.

03:36But he's probably made that pass 20 times.

03:38It's only resulted in an assist once.

03:39Yeah, let's hope it was just precautionary.

03:41And they were just saying there's absolutely no need to take any risk here.

03:44We'll find out.

03:45I might be able to give you a little bit of an update on On The Whistle tomorrow.

03:47But yeah, it is a big concern.

03:49Especially with Pavetta absent.

03:50But hopefully, you know, I did think Rick got better and better.

03:53So, should we call it there?

03:54Yeah, Sunday Night Raw website for all of the latest Sunday news.

03:57On The Whistle tomorrow on Sunday.

03:59A couple of podcasts coming your way on Monday as well.

04:01Thanks for watching.

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