Phil Smith and James Copley answer reader questions following Sunderland's win over Middlesbrough at the Stadium of Light
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hello James and Phil here from the Sunderland Echo. Sunderland have just beaten Middlesbrough
00:131-0 at the Stadium of Light in the Championship Crisprig with a superb backheel to win the
00:19game. That was a goal worthy of any fixture I think.
00:22Yeah, it was like, it was just a great moment and so very often you get like genuine gasp
00:27in a football ground and it was just like that feeling of like, he's gonna score, he's
00:30gonna score or he's overran it, he's going out for a goal kick and then just from nowhere
00:33this deft little backheel. I thought it was class and yeah it was a moment of magic, sort
00:38of worthy of winning any game. I think it was tight and you know Sunderland clearly
00:42didn't dominate the game but I think after what happened last week, the way they managed
00:45the second half I thought was super impressive. They had a lot more of the ball, they chose
00:49the right moments to attack, the right moments to sit off. I thought it was a really mature
00:52performance. Middlesbrough weren't terrible, they didn't do enough and you know I think
00:56on balance, without dominating the game, I think Sunderland did enough to win it I
00:59think. I think it was good.
01:00And I have to say fair play to Chris Rigg as well because I've fallen into the trap
01:03of trying to treat him like a 17-year-old and he's clearly not. He's clearly 37, he's
01:07played like 600 games in the AFL. We were saying in the podcast midweek, yeah, local
01:12derby, Chris Rigg's been good, maybe take him out of the fire-up line, bring Alan Brown
01:16in. Obviously Alan Brown wasn't available so that was sort of off the table but then
01:19Chris Rigg goes and turns in a performance like that, 17 years old. Shout out as well
01:24to Joe Bellingham who we forget is only 18 years old in that midfield. He's just stunning.
01:30I gave him my man of the match in the highest rating. I thought that physically, I thought
01:34he completely dominated his two opposite numbers in midfield. I thought he ran the game and
01:38I thought what Sunderland did well today was they were really, really solid defensively
01:42whilst still getting forward and I thought Joe summed that up. He made big tackles in
01:45his own box, big headers and yet he was always driving forward, carrying the ball, relieving
01:49pressure.
01:50It was his interventions wasn't it?
01:52Yeah and he played some nice passes today. He teed up Roberts for that one that was nearly
01:56a screamer from 20-odd yards. He teed up Mundell for that shot just before after half-time.
01:59I thought it was such an intelligent performance.
02:01Rise beyond his years.
02:02Yeah, he is like, I think he's going under the radar, he's probably over the top a bit
02:06but I think because of Rigg rightly getting the headlines, I think maybe Bellingham isn't
02:10quite getting the credit he deserves for his level of performance. I thought he ran that
02:13game today, I thought he was outstanding.
02:14It's his second full season as well, he's had a...
02:16It's just exciting to be watching these two lads.
02:18It is really, really. Mike Smith says, have we got a master tactician in Reg, obviously
02:23Regis Labrie, no panic when they had the ball, late subs to stretch them, then final one
02:28to close the game out when they were pressing Magic. I think what I would say on that is
02:32that against Plymouth I thought you perhaps should have made a substitution slightly earlier.
02:36So it's good when you win, it's not so good when you lose. Those are just the sort of
02:40live and die.
02:41Yeah, I think you get a feel for a manager and how they do things pretty early on. It's
02:46pretty obvious that Labrie isn't going to be a big substitution merchant. That's definitely
02:50not a thing, I don't know where that's come from.
02:52A sub-merchant.
02:53A sub-merchant, yeah. But like you can tell, in contract mode we like to change it early
02:56and you like to make big changes and almost shock the game and change the momentum. Sometimes
03:00it worked, sometimes it didn't. It's the same with Labrie, there are definitely times when
03:02we stand there saying, oh he should have changed it earlier, I'd like to see more. I think
03:06I'd say a couple of things about Labrie...
03:07But that's going to always have to be a loss, isn't it? Because that's the way the narrative
03:10goes, isn't it?
03:11Yeah, definitely. The thing I would say about Labrie is I think there's two things. One
03:13is, at the moment, he hasn't got loads of options on the bench. And I'm hoping that's
03:16something that starts to change in the next few weeks.
03:18I think so, I think so.
03:19Because actually, he hasn't got loads to work with and that's one slight niggle where he's
03:22a bit strong. But I think that is part of it. I think what I would say about him tactically
03:26is, I think defensively the structure is the best we've seen for a long time at Sun London
03:30and he deserves a huge amount of credit for that. The players are clearly buying in totally
03:33and that's down to him and his management. Big tick. The one thing I would say is, we
03:36haven't seen loads of flexibility yet. That's not a criticism because we've won five games
03:40from six and we haven't had to see a lot of flexibility. But we haven't seen a huge
03:45amount in terms of the attack beyond the good counter-attack, which has been very successful.
03:49So, I'm not saying that as a criticism. I think he's been brilliant and like I say,
03:52the players obviously love him. But I think there's still... I'd be interested to see
03:56how he manages over the course of a 46-game season.
03:58That's true, yeah.
03:59How he presents different things, introduces different ideas.
04:02And in fairness, Sun London haven't really come up against an opponent yet where you
04:05think, oh my God, we need five at the back or something like that.
04:08Yeah, definitely. Or they haven't come up against the game we saw last year where teams
04:12just put ten men behind the ball and slow it down. And it's going to be really interesting
04:15to see whether Sun London are ready for that. So, yeah, I think he's done brilliantly so
04:18far. But I think it's a little bit early in terms of seeing what else he's got in the
04:22toolbox as well.
04:23This next question comes from Muncaster. Gary says, very impressive start to the season.
04:27Can we get better? A few players still to reach their potential and January window ahead.
04:32Where do you think we should and could strengthen? I think we can get better.
04:36Yeah, definitely. As I said, we haven't seen, I still think we've got loads to see from
04:42this team. I think that the games have all been broadly similar in how Sun London have
04:46approached it. And so far it's worked really well. I think there's so much more. I would
04:50say two ways that can get better. I do think that using our experience of the last three
04:54years or so, we also have to be realistic and acknowledge that with some of these young
04:58players, there's also going to be a dip at some point. We have been here through before
05:02where they've been brilliant at the start of the season.
05:04We were talking about that Blackburn game towards the back end of last season. How short
05:08a time ago that is.
05:09It's a long winter. The pitches get worse. It gets a little bit more difficult and it'll
05:12be new experiences for some of these players. So I think there will be a dip. And that's
05:15when that depth, which we were just talking about, is going to be so, so, so important.
05:19And I think with players like Isidore coming on strong, Sally, Samed coming into the mix,
05:23I think that's kind of going to define whether Sun London can keep this up. I'm so excited
05:28about this team. I mean, Mundell, Fly and Bellingham we've talked about.
05:35We're just going to pretend that that didn't happen, that my iPhone did not reach maximum
05:40storage, that that was in a very obvious sea that we've just put in the middle of the video.
05:46So, yeah, I was just saying that I think there is more to come from this team, but I also
05:50think we have to be realistic that there will be little dips as well during the season as
05:54well. And I think the big thing is going to be how those players still come into the group.
05:57Samed, Isidore, I think they're going to have to pick up the slack at some point and that's
06:01going to be a kind of a big part of the season.
06:03I was just about to say before the end, the camera cut out, is obviously Watford next
06:06weekend. But then the week after that, you've got Derby on the Tuesday and then it's Leeds
06:10I think on the Friday night. So that is a big, big test. Derby are a decent side, Leeds
06:15we know are dangerous. So I think I feel like that will tell us quite a bit. You know, Sun
06:20might draw one and lose one of those games and it's not the end of the world by any means.
06:24But I think that will give us an idea of where Sun London are at.
06:26Yeah, and I think the one thing I would say just on the final point in terms of January,
06:29the one thing I would say is that Sun London are going to be in a strong position in January
06:32and that they're not going to be under any pressure to sell any of these players when
06:35the big teams come in from them. Obviously, the one slight contractual concern at the
06:39moment is Neil and Sir can have 18 months at that point. But hopefully, you know, that's
06:42something by that point where they're extended. But I feel pretty good about that. The question
06:46is whether Sun London really go for it in January. That's a totally different debate.
06:49I was going to say, just on that January thing, I think for me, I saw enough and heard enough
06:53noises in the summer to suggest that Sun London did some decent business on deadline there.
06:59But there was perhaps another gear that they were trying to get to that they couldn't.
07:03There was a couple of failed things, you know, things that didn't quite come off. Obviously,
07:06January is a different kettle of fish because those prices could go even higher and we know
07:10Sun London won't take their eyes off. But for me, I'm quite relaxed in the sense that
07:14I feel like there's a willingness from the club to spend money. Obviously, it's quite
07:18easy to be relaxed when you've run five from six.
07:21And I think that as well, we have seen with like, specifically with Metham and Samhead,
07:26they're two deals that, you know, those players, we might not see them again. It's for this
07:29season only. Hopefully, they'll stay and probably leave us on the next year. But my point being,
07:33I think we've seen that they're prepared to sort of do some short-term deals to improve
07:37the team in January. So I feel fairly optimistic about that. But I'll tell you what, that's
07:40a hell of a long way off.
07:41One of the questions that we had on Twitter was how long can Sun London actually keep
07:45hold of Chris Ricken if he continues to play like that?
07:48Yeah, I mean, there's an obvious question, which is not very long if he's this good,
07:51because there's going to be some stupid bids coming.
07:53Unless Sun London get to the Premier League, which I would say is possible.
07:57I don't think there's any short to medium term issues. The whole point he stayed when
08:00he could have signed for any club he wanted in the last two summers was because he wanted
08:03to play Championship football with Sun London. He's playing every week. He's not going to
08:06drop out of the team anytime soon, maybe for the odd game every now and then. He's playing,
08:10he loves it, the fans love him. He's already turned down two much better opportunities
08:14or more sensible opportunities to leave, if you like. Why would he do it now?
08:18It's actually easy to forget, isn't it, that as well as signing his professional deal,
08:22this summer, obviously last summer as well, he had offers and he could have left actually
08:27easier, really, because he was signing his professional deal.
08:29That's exactly what I mean. It would have been easier to go then. So I'm not too worried
08:31about that in the short to medium term.
08:33And I think what we have to say about Chris Rigg as well is that he's got a great deal
08:36of respect from the fans. We've written about it. It's our understanding that it's one of
08:39the reasons he stayed. Obviously Sun London have had to persuade him to stay as well in
08:43terms of money, in terms of pathway, in terms of playing him. But we have all of those sort
08:49of cards in our hands. We, at the moment, seemingly are the best place for his development,
08:53especially when Sun London are winning games in the Championship.
08:55Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't worry too much about that. Just enjoy it at the moment.
08:58Just enjoy it while you still can.
08:59And I think realistically, if Sun London don't get the Premier League in the next couple
09:02of years, he's off for an absolutely huge sum. And I think that's how it is.
09:06And it's one of those where, and I don't want to get too ahead of ourselves, I don't want
09:10to sell our players before we've achieved anything or anything, but the sale of a Chris
09:14Rigg or a Job, that could really kick this club on in terms of the model into the next
09:19sort of stratosphere. I know people maybe thought that would happen with the Ross Stewart
09:22and Jack Clark deals. It hasn't quite mapped out, but I genuinely feel like a Rigg or a
09:25Bellingham could be huge.
09:27And I think we should enjoy it because I think in 10 years' time we might look back and laugh
09:30that we were watching.
09:31Yeah, when Chris Rigg's played for Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
09:34I think we could look back and laugh that we watched Bellingham, Rigg and Neal as a midfield
09:37three week in, week out. So let's enjoy.
09:39A couple of closing remarks from me, just things I wanted to put out. I thought Metheny's
09:43debut was excellent. Obviously, Premier League player, national, you expect him to be not
09:48sort of stressed out or flustered by coming into a game like this, but I thought he was
09:52excellent. What a great thing to have that kind of centre half in the building. I thought
09:56he was excellent. I just thought we should shout out Patrick Roberts again, who I think
09:59has been really strong this season, working his socks off, constant threat. What a treat
10:04to watch him back being Patrick Roberts.
10:06Well, we said on the podcast, or you pointed out on the podcast, that pretty much every
10:09Sunderland goal this season, Patrick Roberts has had an involvement with. Obviously, Chris
10:13Rigg, individual skill, got the backheel. We watched the replay back in the stadium.
10:16I turned to you and said, that sort of proves what you say, because it was Patrick Roberts
10:19down the right with the ball in. Not an assist, not a second assist even, but it's him penetrating
10:25down the right and putting that ball in.
10:27I think we'll leave it there. All I've got left to say is, howe'er the mid-block.
10:30Howe'er the mid-block, yes. Howe'er Regis Liverie's madness.
10:34Thank you for being patient with us during our technological issues.
10:37It's excitement, that's what it is.
10:39Howe'er the mid-block.