James Copley on Sunderland's need to bounce back from Coventry City loss

Sunderland Echo

On the latest episode of The Roar podcast, Sunderland writer James Copley reflects on the Black Cats' 3-0 defeat to Coventry City.

Transcript

00:00Sunderland's top six spot is definitely assured.

00:03If this turns into a little bit of a pattern and continues,

00:06you know, Sunderland losing games by more than a one goal margin

00:09or losing a number of games on the spin, then yes,

00:12you can start to get concerned.

00:13But it is worth noting, as we did earlier on the podcast,

00:16that it's been a really, really good season.

00:18I think the frustration comes from as well,

00:21is that perhaps this has been coming.

00:23We'd seen Sunderland look a bit jaded in a few games recently

00:26and one of the main criticisms, I think, of this Sunderland side

00:29is that although they don't lose many games by more than a one goal margin,

00:34they don't really win many games by more than a one goal margin either.

00:37It's only happened really a few times this season

00:40and that's no bad thing.

00:42But I thought, Jase, at one point this season,

00:45you know, around the Sheffield United game at home,

00:47maybe on New Year's Day,

00:49I thought that Sunderland team looked like it had the potential

00:52to maybe step up a few levels and start really putting teams to the sword,

00:57start really being clinical.

00:59I thought around that time that somebody was due a hiding

01:01and it didn't seem to happen.

01:03You're right to mention that this squad is very young

01:06because it is and I think sometimes Sunderland do lower the level to play teams.

01:12I'm thinking of like the Plymouth game,

01:14both Plymouth games, Hull City game at the stadium of like Preston,

01:17like all respect to those teams who've played well against Sunderland.

01:22You have to say that tactically they've set up well,

01:24but sometimes I feel like Sunderland sort of get dragged into a dogfight

01:28when they don't need to.

01:29They just need to let the quality shine through

01:31and that's the characteristics you're going to get with a young side.

01:36And fans of every club will say this as well,

01:38but, you know, Sunderland have had a few injury issues.

01:40As you mentioned, I do think the break's coming at a good time.

01:43Lebris will get a bit of time to work on them on the training pitch,

01:47but they're actually away at the moment.

01:48I don't think there's anybody playing staff-wise,

01:50maybe other than the injured players at the academy of like currently.

01:54I don't think they'll be back until next week,

01:56which I think is a good thing just mentally and physically to be able to reset.

02:00They've played a lot of football, haven't they?

02:03And there's been a fair few ups and downs this season.

02:05So I think, you know, Millwall at home is a tough test, isn't it really?

02:09You know, Alex Neil coming back to the stadium of like where he's not well-liked

02:14and he's won before, hasn't he?

02:17So won against Sunderland before by a large scoreline when he was Stoke City boss.

02:22So that'll be interesting. Millwall are always difficult to play against,

02:25but you'd like to see Sunderland come up with a reaction now.

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