Joe Nicholson and Phil Smith react to Sunderland's 2-1 defeat against Ipswich at Portman Road.
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00:00 Here at Portman Road where Sunderland have been beaten 2-1 by Ipswich, they took the
00:05 lead with Jack Clarke, an excellent strike from him in the first half but Ipswich drew
00:11 level before half-time, Caelan Jackson scoring the goal and then Connor Chaplin with the
00:15 winner for Ipswich 15 minutes from time. Phil, a frustrating day for Michael Beale's side,
00:20 did they deserve anything from the game tonight?
00:22 No, I thought Ipswich deserved the win. I don't think Sunderland were terrible by any
00:26 stretch of the imagination. I thought defensively they were okay for the most part. They did
00:31 create some big chances, there's absolutely no doubt about that. Obviously the big one
00:34 I was shooting just before Ipswich was winning. So I didn't think it was a terrible performance
00:37 but I thought Ipswich were the better team. I think the alarming thing for me in that
00:41 game probably was the last 10-15 minutes when obviously Sunderland are chasing the game
00:45 but actually it's Ipswich creating all the chances. I don't think it was an awful performance,
00:49 I think you've got to credit Ipswich, they're a very, very good side, very well organised,
00:53 they're forcing you to make errors in possession. But I have to say, in my personal opinion,
00:57 over the course of the 95 minutes I've got Ipswich with the winning goal.
01:00 The winning goal was pretty inexcusable really, wasn't it? Connor Chaplin left unmarked in
01:04 the box from a free kick and Michael Beale kind of agreed with that, didn't he? It wasn't
01:08 really acceptable.
01:09 No, I think to be fair to Beale that's an individual error, I don't think that's necessarily
01:13 on the head coach. I think it obviously is a poor decision to give the foul away, it
01:17 wasn't really necessary, that's really poor marking. Connor Chaplin shouldn't be winning,
01:20 excellent player by the way, but he shouldn't be winning three headers, that's not his game.
01:24 But I think also you could say as well that to take Barr off when he did, I thought it
01:28 was a strange decision. Barr was playing really well, fair play to Beale, good decision to
01:31 bring him back into the side, I thought he justified it. But that definitely played a
01:35 part as well, I thought that was an unusual sub and a key part of the game.
01:39 He is right to say it's individual lapses and naivety that have cost him the game, that
01:43 is right, but I do think going forward, I think there are some issues here. It's not
01:47 clicking at the moment, it's not what we saw from the side in the last few months of
01:51 last season. And again, the goal is a jackpot, wouldn't have struck. I know they did create
01:55 some chances, but I don't think this is some of the really important attacking forces.
02:00 We can't ignore the fact that the Sunderland fans that were sitting over there, they were
02:03 chanting 'we want a striker'. Beale did drop Nazir Hussain today, brought Abdullah Barr
02:09 into the team and kind of joked about England was leading the line. What the Sunderland
02:12 need to do now, obviously the transfer market is open, the fans will want to bring another
02:16 striker in, but because it's not quite clicking as you say at the moment.
02:19 Yeah, I think it's really important they do get a striker in. I think to be fair, Beale
02:21 has been pretty open that they are trying to do that. He's also said that they're only
02:25 going to sign someone who's going to come in and impact the team. And I think that's
02:28 more than fair enough. You have got four strikers there, the absolute last thing you need to
02:31 do is bring in another player who's going to be ready to impact the team. The question
02:35 we all have is, is the budget there to go and land that player who is ready to come
02:39 and impact the team? That's the big question mark. And I do think it's important, it feels
02:43 simplistic to say, "Oh stick a striker in, take him to a nearer number, fine." But there's
02:47 no doubt, it is the biggest issue in this team. It's just some defensive issues, sure.
02:52 But yeah, I think ultimately it feels like we're having the same conversations, but there's
02:56 a reason for that.
02:58 Well you can read more about today's game over on the SAFC section of the Sunderland
03:01 Echo website. All the latest transfer news over there as well, and we'll then have more
03:05 build-up to Sunderland's next game. They're back at the Stadium of Light against Hull
03:08 City next Friday.