Phil Smith assesses Sunderland's defeat at Birmingham City and answers reader questions
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00:00 Hello from Birmingham City, welcome to another edition of On The Whistle. Loads of questions
00:15 this week, thanks so much for sending them in. I wish they could be cheerier questions
00:20 and I could give you cheerier answers but unfortunately it was another really disappointing
00:24 afternoon for Sunderland and actually I thought that game probably was the Michael B era in
00:29 a microcosm so far. The first half, alright Sunderland didn't have loads of chances, they
00:34 didn't completely dominate the game but the work rate was terrific, they really limited
00:38 Birmingham in front of a sellout crowd and I did think they deserved the lead. I thought
00:42 there was a lot of promising things in their game. The pressing was good, they looked a
00:46 threat on the break and the second half they just couldn't cope with Birmingham. I think
00:53 that Birmingham found the spaces and Sunderland set up, it's something we talk about a lot,
00:57 they're out of possession, Sunderland go very, very narrow and I think that has its benefits
01:01 and you saw that in the first half, Birmingham played into it a lot but I thought the second
01:04 half they found that space out wide over and over again. Miyoshi drifted infield, what
01:09 a clever player he is, such a Tony Mowbray footballer I thought. I thought it was a really
01:15 disappointing second half and again Sunderland were so slow to respond to the issues that
01:19 they were facing and I think it's hard to say that Birmingham didn't deserve it in the
01:22 end, albeit neither side really had loads of chances. So listen I'm going to get straight
01:27 into your questions because we've had so many. I'll probably put a few in together as one
01:31 because as you can imagine there's a fairly consistent theme with the questions. The first
01:34 one I'm going to answer is from Liam, thanks for sending this in Liam, who says 'I'd like
01:38 to hear about the Echo Stamps on Treygate'. So I'm sure if you're watching this you've
01:42 seen it now, it was a slightly strange scenario at the end where Trey Hulme was substituted
01:46 actually just before Sunderland were going to defend a corner, Louis Hemiya came on,
01:50 Hulme then came round the side of the pitch because of the new rules and went to shake
01:54 Michael Beale's hand and Michael Beale didn't shake his hand. Very strange. Beale was asked
01:59 about it after I hadn't seen it before the press conference but my colleague Nick Barnes
02:02 asked from BBC Radio Newcastle, asked Beale about it. He insisted that he hadn't seen
02:06 Hulme, he said he had a really good relationship with Hulme and that he would go straight away
02:10 and apologise to him. He seemed really surprised I think. Obviously people will have their
02:15 own opinions on what happened but that's the only answer I can give you, that's what's
02:21 been said. Not ideal I think, it's another storm really that Sunderland don't need and
02:27 for the record I thought Hulme again was one of Sunderland's best players to date, hugely
02:31 committed performance. Even in a pure runner form he's one who continues to hold his head
02:35 high.
02:36 John Ridley asks 'Why can we not get a complete 90 minute performance?' This is a really,
02:42 really good question. I have no idea. Sorry John. No listen, I asked Beale exactly about
02:48 this after the Huddersfield game and his response was a slightly odd one in that he said 'Well
02:52 it's because the gap between the two teams on Wednesday night and generally across the
02:57 division outside the top four isn't that large.' And I suppose you could argue that Birmingham
03:01 have got some really good individuals. I think that's fair to say that they're better than
03:04 where they were under Wayne Rooney for example. Like I say 'Wow, Miyoshi what a wonderful
03:07 footballer I think he would walk into any team.' Stanfield is an outstanding young prospect
03:12 up front. The way he took control of the game in the second half, ran the channels, ran
03:16 into space. I thought he was absolutely excellent.
03:21 In terms of why do I think Sunderland can't get a complete 90 minute performance, I think
03:24 at the moment they look like a little bit of a confused team to me. I think they're
03:27 in obviously a bit of a transition away from Mowbray. I thought the second half from Birmingham
03:32 was pretty classic moggle ball to be honest. And I think Sunderland are a little bit confused
03:37 and they seem, I think one thing I would say as well is they seem very slow to react when
03:40 things are going wrong. And I thought the second half was an example of that. It took
03:44 a long time for them to make changes even though the direction of the game I thought
03:47 was pretty clear. And you have to say that the substitutions who came on didn't impact
03:51 it. I think there's some inconsistency in selection which I think is understandable
03:56 obviously because some players are struggling to find consistency at this level. I do think
04:00 that having such a young side I think is a factor. It's not a takeaway from the set-up
04:06 or even to give the players an excuse because I don't think some of the performances recently
04:10 have been good enough. But I do think that sometimes there seems to be a huge fluctuation
04:16 in their intensity and sometimes I feel like when there's a big occasion or a big game
04:20 or they're playing a high class opponent, like the first half here it was a really intense
04:23 atmosphere, it feels like it really gets them going. And sometimes it feels like they struggle
04:27 to hit that level when the atmosphere is not intense or when there isn't as much focus
04:31 around the game. That might be wrong but I'm just thinking back to Huddersfield on Wednesday
04:35 night, I'm thinking back to the Rotherham game away and Huddersfield at home earlier
04:38 in the season. I do wonder if that's a bit of a theme. So yeah, I don't really have the
04:42 answer to that question John but thanks very much for sending it in because I think it's
04:45 the big question around this team at the moment.
04:50 What else have we got? Michael Bowers says 'I know we have issues going forward but that
04:53 doesn't excuse the goals against being poor recently. What do we do to stop the amount
04:56 of poor goals we're giving away?' Well it's another incident where someone has switched
05:00 off from a set-piece. It's just inexcusable that aspect of it really isn't it? It's just
05:05 not good enough. It's a quick free kick, someone under a sleep, they don't spot Stansfield's
05:08 run and then they're the slowest to respond to the deflection as well. I'm not really
05:13 sure how you go about correcting that other than it just has to improve. The first goal
05:19 personally I think maybe Paterson could do better. Does he palm it back out into a dangerous
05:24 area? He made a brilliant save from Jay Stansfield in the first half, that was arrowing into
05:28 the top corner so I don't want to be too critical. But I do think, listen I feel that first goal
05:33 personally was inevitable Michael in terms of yes it's sloppy defending, yes there's
05:36 things you can do better. But I think when Birmingham took control of the midfield battle
05:40 and they kept getting overloads in the wide areas, I think it's a matter of time before
05:43 the goals come. So in my personal opinion, the first goal comes because the balance of
05:47 the game has switched and because Birmingham were winning the tactical battle at that stage
05:51 and they were dominating possession and finding spaces. So I think there was a sense of inevitability.
05:56 That's just my opinion in terms of the set-pieces. I don't really know what to say other than
06:00 the conversations got to be an awful lot better.
06:05 Pretty much every other question I've got is about Michael Beale and Michael Beale's
06:09 future. So I'm just going to address that one as the last one, as my final point. I
06:15 do think that Michael Beale, if results don't improve very quickly, is going to come under
06:18 pressure because I think if you look at the table, I think the season is hanging by a
06:22 thread. Sunderland have to get three points against Swansea next weekend, I really do
06:26 believe that because the gap now to the play-offs is widening. Coventry are coming in to really
06:30 strong form. West Brom lost on Friday night at Southampton but we know how good a side
06:35 they are. Their season I think is only going to go in one direction and obviously Hull
06:40 have been more consistent really over recent times even when I don't think their performances
06:44 have been brilliant.
06:45 If you look after the Swansea game, Sunderland I believe have Norwich away, Leicester at
06:49 home and Southampton away. They're getting themselves into a position where they're going
06:53 to have to get probably six points minimum from those games to really still be in contention
06:58 going into that international break. If they're not in contention in that international break,
07:02 I think it's going to be a really difficult conversation for Sunderland because obviously
07:05 at that point the season is at risk of being cut adrift. Having sacked Tony Mowbray, even
07:10 though some people felt and everyone will have their own opinions, that there were some
07:13 valid reasons for that or could understand it. It's not a change I would have made but
07:17 I respect other people's opinions. I think to be in that position would raise some serious
07:23 questions. I think Sunderland will want to stick by Bale, whether we agree with that
07:28 or not. They believe he's an excellent coach and that in time the fruits of his work on
07:33 the training ground are going to be seen. I think it's fair to say that at this stage
07:37 the jury's out isn't it because we're just not seeing tangible improvements over and
07:41 over again. There are aspects in games where you see it, where the play is a little bit
07:44 more direct and I think there's a little bit more space for the wingers and you kind of
07:48 get the idea. There are times in games where they limit the opposition and you can see
07:51 that defensively there's an idea there to be narrower, to be tighter, to give up fewer
07:55 chances and you can sort of understand where he's trying to take the team. But from game
07:59 to game, the lack of consistency and the lack of coherence, at least you would have to say
08:05 that earlier in the season, even though Sunderland could frustrate the life out of you with their
08:08 lack of clinical edge in the final third, there was a real blueprint and you had a real
08:12 feeling about where the team was going to go. I'm not entirely sure that's the case
08:16 and as long as that continues, if you're not churning out the results, there is going to
08:21 be a huge amount of discussion. So, yeah, I do believe that Michael Bale needs a run
08:26 of form very, very, very quickly but over and above that, he also needs to demonstrate
08:30 that there's a clear idea of where he wants to take this team because at the moment, although
08:35 there's flashes within games, they aren't as fun to watch as they were either earlier
08:38 in the season, even though they were frustrating us, weren't they, in a lot of games and they're
08:42 certainly not as exciting as they were last season. At the moment, they're not progressing
08:46 as a team. They're not progressing in terms of points per game. I would argue that statistically
08:49 the data shows they're not progressing as a team and that's a major concern.
08:54 I'm going to leave you with one little positive comment. I thought the first half of Romain
08:59 Mundell looked really, really exciting and he caused Birmingham a lot of problems and
09:04 he's going to have to going forward because I've just had it confirmed from Bale in the
09:07 post-match press conference that Roberts is out for four to five weeks. When I was just
09:12 talking about those games coming up, that's a huge loss. I think we've seen in his absence
09:16 just how important he is. Sorry we couldn't do a cheerier edition of On The Whistle. Thanks
09:21 so much again for sending your questions in. I know some of you, I won't have answered
09:26 your questions but hopefully I think I've covered up all the topics that everyone asked
09:29 about and you never know, I might be able to get to one in the week. Thanks very much
09:34 for watching. Please subscribe, please come and see us on the Echo website, read our stuff,
09:38 come find me on Twitter. Let's see what the next week brings. It's never dull, is it?
09:42 Bye.
09:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]