Strikers subs and 'The Model' - Phil Smith answers YOUR questions after Ipswich Town 2-1 Sunderland
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00:00 Evening, Phil here from the Echo, reflecting on another disappointing night for Sunderland
00:07 actually, Lipswitch. We're going to start doing something a little bit different, which
00:11 hopefully you'll enjoy for our YouTube channel. We're going to take your questions on social
00:14 media at full time after the game. We're going to discuss them. Hopefully I can give you
00:18 a little bit of insight, whether it's from the press conferences or things I hear. And
00:22 yeah, just discuss all the major talking points. Now what's normally going to happen is my
00:25 super talented colleague James is going to make it look really good. We're going to do
00:28 it at the ground and hopefully you'll get a bit of flavour of the atmosphere. Tonight,
00:33 for logistical reasons, it's coming from my hotel room in Ipswich, so apologies for that,
00:37 but hopefully you'll still find it interesting. First question is from @1973Mackim who says,
00:44 will we ever sign a striker? I suspected that the striker would be the first question and
00:49 it was. I think Sunderland do want to sign a striker in the January window. I think it's
00:55 a major issue because, you know, the timing of Tony Mowbray's dismissal obviously came
01:00 at a time when he said that he didn't feel the strikers were ready. And I think the expectation
01:04 was that one of the big challenges the new head coach would be given was to come in and
01:08 get the strikers in the team and get them firing. You know, Michael Bale actually said
01:12 sort of ahead of the derby, he implied that he was going to give Nazari Russen, you know,
01:15 an extended run in the team. So it was a surprise when Job played up front tonight. It's not
01:20 that I don't think Job's a good striker. I actually think he's got a real knack for it.
01:24 I think everybody kind of feels that it's time to give somebody a run and I can totally
01:27 understand that. In terms of the January window, Sunderland definitely want to sign a striker
01:32 and I'd be really surprised if they didn't. But I also think there's an acceptance that
01:35 actually they signed four strikers in the summer. And what you don't want to do is just
01:39 add another player who needs time to settle. You know, Hamier and Meander, I think were
01:43 long-term additions. Berthoud and Russen, especially Berthoud with the two who, you
01:49 know, were expected to come in and make an immediate impact and that hasn't happened.
01:52 I think it's more about getting a player of that calibre. The question is, if you want
01:56 to sign an experienced striker, A) there's going to be a lot of competition in the championship
02:00 and B) it's going to cost a lot of money. Are Sunderland willing to do that? From my
02:03 understanding I think they're willing to push their wage budget a bit, probably for a loan
02:08 signing. I don't see them spending, you know, a huge fee for a proven number nine if there's
02:12 not a lot of resale value. So my answer to your question is, hopefully we will sign another
02:16 striker but I think it has to be a proven player because I don't think there's a lot
02:20 of value at this stage adding another sort of young, long-term signing to the mix. So
02:25 hopefully that answers your question a little bit, although I think that was as much frustration
02:30 as an actual question. Next question is from Chris who says, "I have five subs, why don't
02:34 we use them with 20 minutes left?" I thought it was strange today that Barre actually did
02:39 really well. I thought that was a good selection from Biel in terms of putting him on the right
02:43 wing. I thought he looked really good there earlier in the season and I was surprised
02:46 that he sort of moved around the pitch again in his recent cameos and I thought that knocked
02:50 his form. I thought he deserved to start because he was really good when he came across on
02:54 against Newcastle. I really enjoyed his performance today, I thought he held up the ball well.
02:58 Obviously he had a really good assist for Jack Clarke. Really promising signing so it
03:02 was strange I think to bring him off for Aoushiche. Now obviously, you know, if Aoushiche then
03:06 scores that massive chance, maybe someone will go and win the game. But I thought that
03:10 was an unusual sub and listen, it obviously didn't work out. Aoushiche missed a big chance
03:16 and then gave a free kick away from which Conor Chapman scored the winner. So yeah,
03:20 definitely sort of feel that frustration. It's really interesting that there's a huge
03:24 difference between Biel and Mowbray. Mowbray used to make a lot of subs very early and
03:27 actually used to get criticised for it from people who said it sort of affected the rhythm
03:31 and the fluidity of the team. Biel is very much the opposite, he tends to make only a
03:35 couple of subs and tends to leave it quite late. The one thing I would say in Biel's
03:39 defence tonight is I suppose the game was fairly finely poised and as I say, if Aoushiche
03:43 scores that and Sunderland are potentially on the way, it would be a win. That's not
03:46 to say that Sunderland were brilliant tonight, I thought Ipswich deserved the win. But it's
03:50 definitely an interesting one moving forward and I think, you know, the big concern for
03:54 me tonight was that actually I thought Ipswich were the team who were going to go on and
03:57 score again in the last 10 minutes. Sunderland did eventually bring strikers on but didn't
04:02 actually create any chances. So I think that's a big concern moving forward.
04:05 We've got a question from Graham, he says 'Why is it that the same players every game
04:09 really need an experienced striker and experienced centre midfielder to come on board?' I think
04:13 at the moment there aren't actually that many options. I think the injuries to Roberts and
04:17 Dak have really exposed that lack of depth. And when I say lack of depth I mean, as I
04:22 think you're referring to Graham, players who can impact the game immediately. And I
04:27 think you point about an experienced centre midfielder, I couldn't agree with more, could
04:31 not agree with more. I think Neil and Ekwet are two really, really talented players. Neil
04:35 in particular, I think he's been outstanding this season. I thought he was the best player
04:38 on the pitch tonight. He didn't get manned the match because Ipswich won, so obviously
04:41 an Ipswich player is going to get manned the match. But I thought Neil was terrific. I
04:44 think there's a big problem with the balance on this side. I think they are crying out
04:47 for a natural holder midfielder who can release Ekwet to play further forward because I just
04:51 don't think that's his game. I don't think he's a holder midfielder. The one thing I
04:55 would say is I don't think it has to be an experienced centre midfielder. I don't think
04:58 it's about age or appearances. I just think it's about someone who relishes that side
05:01 of the game, who relishes sort of mopping up, who relishes shutting down counter-attacks,
05:05 who really relishes the challenge of coming and getting the ball deep and starting attacks.
05:09 I think it's been a big hole in this squad since Corey Evans got injured. I think Dan
05:12 Neil did incredibly well to adapt to the role last season. But for me, obviously an experienced
05:17 striker, I think we all agree is the priority in this window. But coming up right behind,
05:20 for me, is an experienced centre midfielder. I think it's massive.
05:25 The performances aren't winning fans over, so how long do you think he'll stay?
05:33 Well, Sunderland have given Bale a two and a half year contract. So they are very, very
05:38 much wedded to this decision. They think it's the right one. They think Bale's an outstanding
05:42 coach. Christian Speighton's on record saying that. The one thing I will say is that still
05:48 at this stage, it's early days in terms of I think Bale hasn't had a huge amount of training
05:52 time. So that's definitely something that I think it would be overly harsh to judge
05:56 him too much from what we've seen in games. What I will say as well is that I think so
06:00 far it has been frustrating because the issues that we've got in the final third, I think
06:06 are actually getting worse at the moment rather than improving. I think Sunderland have become
06:09 more dependent on Jack Clarke. I think they look less fluid rather than more fluid. It's
06:15 a bit of a tough watch at the moment. It feels very stodgy. And I think that's a huge challenge
06:20 for Bale in the weeks ahead. And obviously we all know he's battling against the fact
06:23 that Mowbray was very, very popular. So listen, I think it's way too early for those kind
06:28 of discussions at the moment. And I think it's actually right that Bale gets a lot longer
06:31 to prove he can improve this team on the training pitch. I don't think he's had a huge amount
06:36 of time. And let's be fair as well, he needs some help in the transfer market. We said
06:40 that with Tony Mowbray and I think that's true of Bale as well. And the last question
06:45 we've got from Stephen. @Stephen says, is there a model or is an excuse to spend as
06:49 little as possible? Well, to be honest, I think Sunderland invested quite a bit in the
06:54 last summer window, to be honest.