Phil Smith discusses a big win for Sunderland over Stoke City and answers questions from Black Cats' fans
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00:00Hello everyone and welcome to the latest edition of On The Whistle where I am delighted to
00:14say that for the first time since the end of October we've got a Sunderland win to talk
00:17about. Not just a good win for Sunderland to talk about but I thought a really strong
00:23performance as well and to be honest exactly what we were hoping and kind of needed to
00:27see from Sunderland going into the game. We've obviously been on this strange run where Sunderland
00:32have very rarely been playing badly. They've played against some really good teams and
00:36there's been a lot of positives to take pretty much from each and individual game but they
00:40hadn't won in six, they've let some big opportunities pass them by and I think today on home turf
00:45against a side in the bottom half of the table, a decent side with a lot of talent no doubt
00:50about it but it was a game where I think we were all looking about on home turf as well
00:55where we were looking for a big performance from Sunderland to show that they really are
00:58that minimum kind of playoff contenders and hopefully maybe still automatic promotion
01:02contenders and I thought they'd delivered. Especially when you consider really difficult
01:08conditions to play football in. I've only just about dried out from Storm Darragh and
01:12I'm sure you're all the same, it was some of the worst conditions I've seen in stadium
01:15life for a long, long time but actually despite that, a lot of respect and a lot of praise
01:21for the way that Sunderland kept trying to play their game. I actually thought they made
01:24it a pretty entertaining game to watch despite the conditions. I thought that Stoke were
01:30good opponents for Sunderland today and that sometimes your big fear is that teams will
01:34come into the stadium like they'll slow the game down, they'll pack players behind the
01:37ball, they'll play for set pieces, they'll play for the counter attack and sometimes
01:42Sunderland can struggle with that. Stoke were actually much more open today, they actually
01:48had more possession than Sunderland which is a bit of a rarity and they were definitely
01:52good opponents for Sunderland. They gave the players like Watson, Roberts, Rigg the
01:57space that they thrive upon. So Stoke were definitely good opponents for Sunderland but
02:02even so, I really liked the way that despite the conditions, Sunderland kept playing their
02:07kind of football. It was a game that I enjoyed watching and I thought was a really strong
02:11dominant performance. I think the victory of Hansen, he's definitely the best shot stopper
02:15in this division in my opinion, he might even be the best goalkeeper. To be honest, if not
02:20for him, I think Sunderland could have run up a really, really significant scoreline
02:24today. I thought they were that dominant. Yes, you always thought that Stoke could score
02:27a goal on the break but I did feel that Sunderland were comfortably the better side and I think
02:32a really cathartic win to be honest, to watch them not just get the three points but perform
02:40really well. So I'm going to get straight to your questions, have a chat about the game,
02:43what you all thought of it. The first question here is from Safa Makan, who says, I'm guessing
02:50Tommy will get all the applause today and rightly so, but Daniel played his game of
02:54the season for me. Also, Joe, a little off today, caught in possession and misplayed
02:58passes, just not his day. Pretty much agree with that. Yes, obviously, Tommy Watson is
03:03going to get all the applause today and rightly so. Listen, I think with Watson, you have
03:08to give a lot of credit to him, an 18-year-old performing at that level in the championship
03:12is remarkable and he deserves a lot of praise for that. I think you also, on two different
03:17levels, have got to give Sunderland and Regis Lebris a huge amount of credit. Tommy Watson
03:23has been the best player on the under-21s group for a long time. It has been clear that
03:27he's been knocking on the door for an opportunity but actually when he got his first couple
03:32of starts, he looked a little bit tentative. He didn't look like he had a huge amount of
03:35confidence. I actually thought going into the Sheffield United game that Sunderland
03:40might look to rest him because that was his third game in six days and we actually spoke
03:45to Lebris about that in his pre-match press conference and whether he had any concerns
03:49and he saw it the other way. He said, you know, you've got to give these young players
03:53opportunities and also with such a young, exciting, athletic player like Watson, actually
03:58it might benefit him. It might be that other players tire quicker than he does and I thought
04:03that was proved absolutely correct. I thought Watson had his best performance in a Sunderland
04:07Sheffield United and he really carried that into today's game. This was his fourth start
04:11in a row and you can feel he's really getting to grips with the level. I think you have to
04:15give Sunderland a lot of credit, not just for giving him the opportunity as an 18-year-old
04:19but sticking with him and giving him a proper run in the team and we're seeing the fruits
04:23of that now. Credit to Sunderland as well because coming into the season, I think we
04:28were all really worried about Jack Clark going and what that might do to Sunderland's attack.
04:32While Clark was doing what he was doing last season, Sunderland developed not one but two
04:38successes to him in Romain Mundell and Tommy Watson and that is not easy to do. I think
04:42that's a really impressive feat that deserves a lot of credit. In terms of the other points
04:46made there, I thought Daniel was really good today. I thought that he obviously had a big
04:52part in the goal. He snuffed out a counter-attack, moved it out of Roberts. I just thought he
04:55was generally really mature and really composed in that defensive midfield role. Good performance.
05:00Yeah, Joe, a bit of an off day in possession. Gave the ball away a lot more than we're used
05:04to seeing from him. Got into trouble a few more times than we're used to seeing but that
05:08happens. He's had an absolutely brilliant season. I have no doubt he'll be back to his best soon.
05:12The other player I thought was worth mentioning was Patrick Roberts actually because the last
05:16couple of videos, and totally understandably so, there's been quite a few questions about
05:20Roberts' form, his place in the team. I do think that his form had dipped over the last week or so.
05:27I thought today was back to where he was at the start of the season. I think if you look here,
05:31he was really unlucky not to get an assist even before his one for Watson's winner today.
05:37A good cross for Isidore at the start of the second half that the striker just couldn't get
05:40on the end of. Brilliant little play for that low cross that Watson somehow turned over the
05:45bar from Matt Riard. He did everything right apart from that one today, Watson. So I thought
05:49it was worth mentioning. That was the Roberts we saw at the start of the season, taking players
05:53out of the game, creating chances. Beaten plays on the inside, beaten plays on the outside. So
05:58hopefully that's something that he can take forward in the next few weeks because I think
06:01we would all agree that when Roberts plays like that, he completely transforms the attack and
06:06threat in the centre and side. So, I'm going to have a sip of coffee and then we will go on to
06:10the rest of your questions. Thanks again for sending them in. So, David James says,
06:17Will Serkin be fit to start on Tuesday night? At least he always looks far more accomplished
06:22in the centre half and Serkin adds more of a threat offensively. Yeah, so I thought Serkin
06:27would play today. It was a little bit of a surprise to me that he didn't start at left back.
06:31I would add the caveat that while I agree with you, Davey, I think in the long term,
06:35at least he is going to be a centre half. I think that's his strongest position. He played very,
06:39very well away at Millwall in his first game back, his first start back from injury at left back. So,
06:43I could sort of understand the decision to an extent. At least he did put a really good
06:48crossing for that first time volley that Isidore should have scored but put wide as well. So,
06:52you know, I certainly wouldn't overreact to that. But in answer to your question,
06:54I do think Serkin will be fit for Tuesday. I think probably not starting today was a recognition from
07:00Labreece that starting three times in a week might be a bit much for a player who'd missed
07:04about a month's worth of action with his wrist injury. I think it's just about managing his
07:08minutes. Personally, you know, I can't read Labreece's mind and I think there's a very
07:13good chance Serkin will start on Tuesday. And I agree with you, Davey, that would be the decision
07:17I'd make. No slight on Alissio at all who I think is a hugely talented player but I agree with you.
07:21I think naturally a centre-half. I think Serkin offers so much going forward that I expect him to
07:28back in the team before too long. So, Chris says, how does Connolly,
07:33after his Millwall goal, continue building confidence with a lack of minutes today?
07:37Yeah, I thought Connolly would come on today. I was a little bit surprised when Sunderland
07:42chased a goal that we didn't see Connolly come on. I think he'll be really frustrated and I think
07:46he's kind of entitled to be as well. I think he's been unlucky not to get more minutes than he's
07:50had since that really good goal at Millwall and a pretty selfless performance playing basically in
07:54centre midfield in that game as well. Having said that, there's a big part of me who thinks that
08:00Miénda deserves to be the next in line. If you look at what Miénda did at the start of the season,
08:03it was excellent. Not just his goals that he scored, his work out of possession for the team
08:08is pressing. I think he did deserve his opportunity today. Obviously, that offside goal
08:14for Isidore Miénda should probably have already put it in the back of the net. But I thought he
08:17had an impact. He's got real energy, Miénda, who goes past players. So, yeah, I agree with you.
08:22Connolly will be really frustrated and rightly so. But I do think that Miénda deserved his
08:28opportunity to get on today and a striking role. Credit to Lebris because we've spoken a lot on
08:31these videos about him not being particularly proactive with the substitutions. I think he
08:36didn't make any subs until the 70th minute today, but they were really aggressive ones.
08:40Basically, he went with a 4-4-2. I do think that Miénda's presence in the final third
08:45made a difference, so credit to him for that. George says, when Mundell is fit, who starts wide
08:52left? Listen, I think that it's a really interesting question because it's going to be hard
08:56to drop Watson on this form. But I do think at some point, Mundell will come back into the game
09:03because, listen, I think Watson has all the attributes to be a Premier League player,
09:07hopefully for Sunderland. A really exciting player, but he's made five starts in his senior
09:13career. Between now and Mundell coming back, hopefully at the start of January, there's seven
09:17games. If, it seems likely, Watson plays in most of, if not all of those games, we are definitely
09:24going to see a little bit of fatigue and I wouldn't be surprised if at some point we see a
09:28bit of a dip. So I think the exciting thing for me is that when Mundell's fit, what you'll see is
09:34there's two players who can impact a game and I think you'll see Watson uses an impact sub an
09:38awful lot, which is a role I think he could be incredibly effective in. And every now and then,
09:43I think Mundell will be an impact substitute as well. To be honest, I think Mundell's level was
09:48so high at the start of the season that I would expect him to get an opportunity pretty quickly
09:52when he's fit and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't. I think it's going to be a really
09:57surprising season. I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, he kind of reclaims that spot.
10:01But, you know, I think what Watson has done is he's taken his opportunity while Mundell's out
10:04and I think we're going to see Watson in more games than we don't see him in, to be honest,
10:09between now and the end of the season. It might just be that on a lot of occasions he's being
10:14used as an impact sub. But listen, Watson's got probably seven games between now and Mundell,
10:19being back to prove that he deserves to be a more regular starter.
10:23So, what other questions have we got? Okay, so we've got one from Hannah here. He says,
10:28how many signings can you see us making realistically next month? Well, it's interesting.
10:33We spoke going away from the game a little bit, but I know it's a question that a lot of people
10:37are already starting to talk about and it's certainly something that us as journalists
10:40are starting to look at and think about. We had a long chat with Lebris about transfers
10:44and his pre-match press conference on Thursday. He spoke about basically saying that as things
10:53stand, he thinks that the final third is obviously the area where some of the most need to recruit.
10:58He made the point that at the moment, defensively, he's got a lot of options. We're going to come
11:01on to a question about the back four in a minute, but he's already leaving good players out the
11:05side. You may feel there is a question mark over at the moment because in theory, he doesn't need
11:11any other players. However, there is a big asterisk against that and that is dependent on
11:16Arlan Brown coming back fit at the start of January and Salis Abdul-Samad successfully
11:20sort of getting fully fit and starting his Summit career. Now, if both those players get fit by his
11:25January with Rigg, Job and Dan Neal as well, I don't think there's a huge need for another
11:31midfielder. But if either or both of those players aren't able to get up to speed quickly,
11:36then it might be a position that you need to recruit. I think in the final third,
11:41there's an obvious need for just a bit more competition, really. It's no slight on the
11:45players in Sunderland squad. I just think it's a position where you need extra legs. I think we've
11:51seen times of season, Sunderland haven't always had options to change it late on. I think that's
11:55really important. I don't know if many of you listened to, but if you didn't, I would recommend
12:01going back and having a listen. Non-executive director and a co-Sky Sports presenter, David
12:06Jones, is on the Top 20 podcast, a brilliant podcast. He referenced the fact that Sunderland
12:11are well aware that if you look at Ipswich last season, they were regularly bringing off three or
12:17four of their attacking players in the last stages of games. They were scoring so many late goals
12:21from having substitutes who were capable of coming on and making an impact with their fresh legs.
12:27I do think we'll see Sunderland recruit. I think we'll see them look to try and recruit in the
12:31final third, first and foremost. However, what has been abundantly clear from Labriez, pretty
12:36much from day one, to be honest, when we first started talking about January, was that it would
12:39be quality over quantity. We know he likes stability. We know he trusts the core of his team.
12:46We know he doesn't want to work with a huge group of players. I think it's very obvious that,
12:51to be honest, obviously, to an extent, it'll depend on outgoings. I think we're looking at
12:56two or three additions, maybe. I think that's what we're talking about. But I think the idea
13:00is to try and get high-quality players who are capable of making an impact pretty much from day
13:06one. If you ask me, I think that the Premier League loan market is the place to go, probably.
13:14Players who maybe aren't getting the level of minutes that they want, but have a lot of talent,
13:19have a lot to offer, have some match fitness under their belt. I think that's the kind of
13:23calibre of players Sunderland are looking at. The one caveat is that we know if there's a young
13:27player who they feel can be a great asset for them in the long run, then they'll go and do
13:32that deal. Romain Mondal was the classic example last January. He's not what Sunderland's first
13:36team needed at that time, but he was a player in the trap for a long time. He unexpectedly became
13:40available in the new. There was an opportunity to develop him away from the glare of the first
13:45team while Jack Clarke was doing what he was doing. You can never say never with Sunderland
13:49Hanna. Maybe they'll pull some surprises out of the bag, but I think the general strategy
13:54going into that window is to make a couple of high-quality additions primarily in the final
13:58third. So, both Michael and Ian asked about Tuesday's game against Bristol City because
14:06we have a major selection dilemma with Chris Metham having served his suspension. One other
14:11big positive from today, by the way, that was the last game before the yellow card cut off.
14:15So, Joe Bellingham and Chris Rigg were both one yellow away from a one-match suspension.
14:22However, that was the 19th game of the season. So, there's that initial amnesty. So,
14:26they won't get a suspension when they pick up the next yellow card. So, that's a big positive.
14:30Chris Metham will be back on Tuesday. Obviously, Dennis Durkin comes into the mix as well. So,
14:35both Ian and Michael are sort of interested in who might play on Tuesday and who might not.
14:41And I think it's a really interesting question because I think Dan Ballard is pretty much back
14:45to his best now. He had a tricky start of the season because he had that injury where he
14:48basically missed all the pre-season. It was really hard for a player to get up to speed
14:52after that. Chris Metham, I think, has been arguably Sunderland's player of the season
14:57so far since he came in. Absolutely exemplary. And Luke O'Neill is Luke O'Neill. He's a leader.
15:05He's incredibly consistent and he's comfortably Sunderland's best player in possession of all
15:10those defensive options. So, I think it's a really tricky one. There's a part where he
15:15thinks he'll go back to Metham in 0-9 because that was a really promising partnership. However,
15:21I know how much he rates Ballard and he also feels Ballard offers something completely different
15:24because he's so physically dominant and that is such an effective weapon, especially in the
15:29Championship, which can sometimes be a really physical division. So, I know the kind of point
15:34of this video in this format is for me to answer questions. I have no idea who's going to play as
15:38centre-half on Tuesday night. I think it's a really, really interesting debate and I can't
15:43wait to see where he goes with it. I've been talking for about 16 minutes, so I think that's
15:48my cue to shut up and let you get on with your lives now. But thanks so much for sending all
15:53your questions and comments in. Great to be able to talk about a Sunderland win, a strong Sunderland
15:57performance and an academy graduate, a boyhood Sunderland fan being the match winner as well,
16:03which was just sort of an added bonus from a really, really good day. So, if you want to send
16:07your questions in, thanks for watching. Obviously, all your other analysis, post-match reaction will
16:11be on the Sunderland Decor website. Plenty more in the build-up to the Bristol City game and I'll
16:15see you probably sometime on Wednesday for a chat about the Bristol City game and hopefully
16:20three more points for Sunderland. Thanks for watching.