What next for Tommy Watson and Sunderland after West Brom snub - #onthewhistle - video Dailymotion

Sunderland Echo

Phil Smith discusses Eliezer Mayenda's performance at West Brom in his regular Q&A with Sunderland Echo readers

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00:00your questions and I'm going to start I'm pretty sure I have a question on those and

00:08that substitution decision so obviously and the natural replacement if you like would have been

00:13Tommy Watson in terms of being an I don't know left winger but instead the breeze tend to me

00:17end it and then later in the game which I'll be it was more of a time waste and so in the

00:22tactical so very much later in the game he actually brought Milano Lecic on other than

00:26Tommy Watson so I've had a few questions on this so Ross says does RLB's refusal to give Tommy

00:31Watson any minutes today tell its own story? Ian says snubbing Watson both times do you think

00:37there's anything to read into this or was it purely tactical? Davey says after the week Watson

00:43has I think it was sensible not to use him today but if Mundell is out for a while I think we'll

00:46see Watson soon. So yeah it's obviously a big talking point coming out of the game I asked

00:53after the game whether you know Watson would have come on had we not learned this week that he was

00:56going to join Brighton you know whether the two things were related he said that he felt that it

01:01was more about how unfortunate Eliza Mienda has been in terms of not being in the starting 11

01:06because of the quality of his performances and he said it was an obvious decision to go with Mienda

01:11even if it's not his strongest position he feels that the experience he's gained over the course

01:15of the season the added versatility has now that he was kind of next in line in my opinion I think

01:21the two are definitely related in terms of I think the fact that Mienda is so sort of connected

01:26is the word that Labreece would use to the club that he's so driven so obviously motivated

01:30and I think is part of the reason why he moved ahead of Watson I don't think there's any doubt

01:35about that but having said that I think that Mienda was was excellent in his performance

01:41every time he got the ball I thought he made something happen didn't see a lot of the ball

01:45because of the game state and the fact that West Brom were dominating possession but he always

01:48made something happen whether it was getting past the plate create a chance winning the free kick

01:52as of course he did for Hulme's winner I thought it was a really really strong performance and I

01:56think that it's one that really establishes himself as the next in line and if that seems

02:01very likely Mundell isn't playing on Tuesday I don't think there's any doubt that Mienda will

02:05start and I think he deserves that opportunity now throwing it forward I don't think we should

02:11read into this that that Watson doesn't have a part of play between now and the end of the season

02:15I think it's been a um it's been a quite intense week for him he's obviously been the center of all

02:20the headlines all the stories um I think that when the dust settles a little bit in the weeks ahead

02:25I think that Lebris might be more minded to use him albeit it looks like it's probably going to

02:29be as an impact so broad in the starter I think that realistically I don't think someone can

02:35afford to go at the end of the season not using Watson especially if Mundell does have an injury

02:39it's going to keep him out for a while he's the most obvious direct replacement Mienda did a

02:42really good job yesterday we know Le Fay can play out there we know Oleksij can play out there

02:47but in terms of the way Sunderland set up the familiarity of their system the way they like to

02:51play Watson is the obvious next replacement and I think that Sunderland realistically are going to

02:55have to use him one of the reasons why Sunderland didn't sell Watson on deadline day was because

03:00they couldn't get a replacement and they felt that Watson was in a really good

03:04um headspace even if he did you know was open to the idea of moving Brighton they didn't have

03:08any concerns over his professionalism and his readiness to contribute so I think having made

03:14that decision I think they have to stick to that and Watson is going to have to be used

03:18are players like Mienda going to be further ahead of them because of the fact that they're obviously

03:22connected to the long term of the club I think that's obvious but I think that you know I think

03:28realistically if Mundell is out for a while we're going to have to see Watson if Lebris prefers to

03:32use him as a substitute then I think that's more than fair but I don't think it's realistic for

03:36him to be kind of snubbed if you like between now and the end of the season I think Sunderland

03:40have made that decision and I think they will have to give him an opportunity at some point

03:44then of course it's up to Watson it's up to the the level of performance he brings

03:48and we'll see you know what where his kind of headspace is but I think I still think he's going

03:52to be an important player particularly um in the in the light of that Mundell injury we don't know

03:58how severe it's going to be yet but if it's the same hamstring there's obviously a chance it's

04:02going to be a while so

What next for Tommy Watson and Sunderland after West Brom snub - #onthewhistle

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