Phil Smith discusses as part of his regular Q&A with Sunderland Echo readers
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00:00Quite a few of you are asking a point around this one. Chris says,
00:04will we always drop off towards the end of the season if we maintain such a youthful squad?
00:09And Louis says, we always seem to have a big dip in February and March,
00:13consequence of smaller squad numbers and young players?
00:15Yeah, definitely. I mean, there is a pattern here. There's absolutely no doubt about that.
00:19Obviously, last season there were some kind of exceptional circumstances
00:22in some of the off-pitch stuff that was going on. Obviously, the changes in manager,
00:25that had a huge impact on something around this time of year.
00:28But it's definitely a pattern that we see a lot of the time.
00:31This is the part of the season when young players,
00:33especially the ones who are in their first kind of professional season
00:35or the second professional season, have a big dip. And it's definitely an issue.
00:39And it's something we spoke about at the time that Alex Neil was almost really ruthless management,
00:43if you like, when he came into the club and acknowledging players who'd been overplayed,
00:47players who were tired. And development almost just completely went out the window.
00:51He focused on getting 11 players on the pitch who could get the team promoted.
00:56And I suppose that poses a really interesting question moving forward.
01:00And whether Sunderland can get promoted without that kind of attitude towards the end of the season.
01:06I think you have to put the other side of it forward as well,
01:09which is I've lost count of the number of managers who through the first 30 games of the season,
01:14really, really praised the fact that Sunderland had such established patterns of play,
01:18that the players were so familiar, that they had this almost telepathic chemistry
01:24in certain areas of the pitch. And that only comes with using a small group of players
01:27who play together regularly. So you do, I think the fact that Sunderland overachieved so much
01:32and was so much better than the chasing pack through the first half of the season,
01:35owed a lot to the familiarity that they had on the pitch.
01:38And I do also think that generally speaking, where possible, it's better to have a smaller squad
01:42because then everyone feels really, really involved.
01:44Everyone feels that they're really, really close to being involved.
01:47And I think you get a better level of dressing room chemistry and a better level of training
01:52as a result of that. So it is a fine balance. And sometimes you do wonder if Sunderland
01:56slightly too far in terms of the experience and the size of the squad the other way.
02:00I think the big thing for me this season is, I think having a small core of the squad,
02:05I don't think, I think can potentially be a positive. I've outlined why earlier.
02:09And the big thing for us is we just haven't had those players to come in and bolster it.
02:13So, you know, obviously, Salih Samed is someone we thought could have a really beneficial impact
02:19on that midfield. It just hasn't been able to happen. Obviously, Dan Ballard's injury issues,
02:24actually Lisa's injury issues. But I think if you look at someone like Jan Pervader as well,
02:28I think, personally, I think Patrick Roberts has had a really good season,
02:31but I think you've seen the consequences of him just not having anyone to take the loan off him
02:35because obviously the Jan Pervader signing so far just hasn't worked out.
02:38And then again, you look at January, you know, Jadon Dan's heart would be too critical
02:43when you find a back injury that he wasn't experiencing any symptoms of in his medical.
02:48But again, I think that's an example where I don't think, I think a small squad
02:52and a young squad is OK, but you definitely in towards the second half of the season,
02:57we were all saying that we're going to need these players to come in and have an impact.
03:01And that's just hasn't materialised. And I think that's had a massive impact
03:05on why things have gone in the last couple of weeks they have for Sunderland.
03:08And the concern is, is that, is that going to change towards the end of the season?
03:12We don't really know. Le Fay is going to come back.
03:14And as I said, I think that's going to be a huge moment in Sunderland's season.
03:17That could give the whole place a real lift. You know, Sam Ed,
03:20I think still a couple of weeks away after the international break.
03:22Again, will he be able to build as much sharpness before the end of the season?
03:25You don't know. Dan Ballard hopefully will be able to come back and have an impact
03:30if he can stay fit, which would be massive. But again, there's some uncertainty there.
03:34Jadon Dan, Zian Pervera, Ahmed Abdullahi, are these guys going to be able to play
03:37any real part in the season? We just don't know.
03:40So I think there is a definite concern there just in terms of the squad depth.