Phil Smith takes questions from fans out in Spain following Sunderland's 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest
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00:00Morning everyone from Alicante. Phil here. Apologies, I'm very aware of just how tired
00:16I look. I feel every bit as tired as I look, but we go again. Time for the latest edition
00:20of On The Whistle. Thanks so much for sending all your questions in. Obviously, we're just
00:23going to talk through Sunderland's 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest last night and all
00:27your thoughts and feelings on it. Really good game to be fair. I was actually really
00:32encouraged by what I saw from Sunderland. Ultimately, Forest shaded the game. They definitely
00:37had more of the ball. They had more of the clear goal scoring chances, I would say. You
00:43would expect that. Nottingham Forest are a Premier League team. They've got hundreds
00:47of millions of pounds of quality. They changed their entire team at half-time. Sunderland
00:52didn't, which meant they had a little bit of an injection of fresh legs for 20-25 minutes
00:55in that second half, which made a difference. But there were some good signs from Sunderland.
00:59They moved the ball pretty well, pretty quickly at times. Anthony Paterson wasn't really tested.
01:04There were a few good blocks from Trae Hulme in particular to stop clear chances turned
01:07into goals. But generally, I thought Sunderland did really well. I thought it was a few things
01:12that we noticed. Lebris is really embedding that 4-3-3 system, which is like a 4-4-2 out
01:17of possession. I was encouraged by the fact that he talks about wanting to implement that
01:21and you can actually see it on the pitch straight away. I feel like the messages are pretty
01:24clear for the players. Some really good counter-attacking. I think there's a lot more pace and intensity
01:28to Sunderland's game again. Didn't see the high press as much last night because ultimately
01:33it was well over 30 degrees. And obviously, Sunderland were playing as a team who had
01:37more of the ball and more quality than they usually face. So I think it's natural they
01:41were going to be a bit more cautious. But yeah, lots of good stuff and really interesting
01:45as well that Lebris picked what we would probably say has become the strongest team at this
01:49point. Obviously, that's dictated to slightly by the fact that there were some fitness issues.
01:53Alan Brown is still getting up to full match fitness. He's not available for selection
01:56yet, although we should see him on Sunday. But generally, this was mostly the team that
02:00we pretty much thought Lebris was going to go with, depending on what happens in the
02:03transfer market on the opening day of the season. So with that in mind, really interesting
02:07to see Chris Rigg in midfield and Eliezer Meander up front. Felt like a bit of a nod
02:12to what they're doing in pre-season and a real show of faith from Lebris and both of
02:16them absolutely justified it. Rigg was superb, gave the ball away once or twice, but it's
02:21going to happen in midfield against an opponent of this class. But he was at the heart of
02:24all of Sunderland's best stuff, full of intent, full of quality and obviously won the penalty
02:29as well. And credit to Dan Neil, whose discipline really set the platform for Rigg to go and
02:34do his thing. But he was excellent. And Meander, really encouraged. The kid is still quite
02:39raw. His first touch could be improved. There's loads of parts of his game that can be improved.
02:43But he ran the channel as well. He actually held the ball up. And what was interesting
02:47for me was you could see that some players had no fear of putting long balls into him.
02:50They backed him to compete with the forest defenders and make the ball stick. So that's
02:54really interesting. It's not me saying it's only pre-season. The kid's got a lot to prove.
03:00We saw with Jemir last year that actually what you do in pre-season can sometimes be
03:03very different when the competitive fixtures come around. But for me, really good starting
03:07point from Meander. And at this point, yeah, I certainly don't see the kid going out on
03:11loan. So I'm going to go into your questions now. I'm just going to have a sip of coffee
03:14if that's alright. The first one, well, a few of you asked about it actually, but Warren
03:20specifically says, can you expand on your tweets about Alexander Mendy? Obviously, a
03:24bit of a strange one. Halfway through the first half last night, a report from France
03:28broke saying Alexander Mendy had chosen to join Sunderland, that he was looking forward
03:33to doing his medical and all that was left was for the two clubs to agree a fee. Really
03:37sort of strong report. And so obviously, as Warren sort of alluded to there, I asked about
03:43this, about people who would know the club while I was there. The response that came
03:47straight back was that they were really surprised by this. Mendy is clearly a player that they
03:52like, but the deal is not imminent as far as they're concerned, and they're still weighing
03:57up a lot of options. So what exactly do I mean by that, Warren? Well, ultimately, if
04:02you strike a position with every other position, with a head coach position that we saw in
04:05the summer, you're aware that there's a million different factors. And so you're always looking
04:09at a number of different options. You have a list of players and you're having talks
04:13with all these players, their agents and the club simultaneously. Every player will
04:18have their strengths, their weaknesses, and they'll also have what you think is their
04:21value. So the fact of the matter is, at this point, Sunderland haven't definitely decided
04:26that Mendy is the striker deal they want to do. They're juggling, they're spinning all
04:30these plates, they're working out the value of each deal, what it will cost them, and
04:34trying to work out which one is the best one for them to do. Now, obviously, it's hugely
04:38significant if Mendy has decided that Sunderland is the club he wants to join because Sunderland
04:42like him, his club in France want to sell him. And if he wants the move, then it means
04:47that all the other clubs who are interested, there's interest from Saudi Arabia, we know,
04:51then that suggests it doesn't really matter because he's going to want to hold out for
04:54Sunderland. But the fee hasn't been agreed yet. And there's obviously a reason why Sunderland
04:58as of yet haven't decided they want to push the button on this. So it's Warren, the idea
05:02certainly wasn't to sort of rubbish the story. Absolutely not. Certainly wasn't going to
05:07say that Mendy isn't signing. That could, yes, happen. And here, if he does, experienced
05:12player who's top scorer in League 2 with Cannes last season, pretty encouraging. But what
05:18I was just trying to get across with those tweets is the list and the club are saying
05:20we haven't decided this is the best option for us. I don't know if that's to do with
05:24the fee, it's whether it's to do with the player itself. Maybe it's because there's
05:27another really attractive option out there that they haven't given up on yet and someone
05:30who when they sign, we all go, wow, what a deal that is. So it might well happen. We're
05:34just trying to get across the point that I think it was easy from the strength of the
05:39piece to think, oh, this is going to happen. This is going to happen tomorrow. Sunderland
05:43haven't yet decided that it's the right deal for them. So hopefully something progresses,
05:46whether it's with Mendy or another striker. But I think it's one where there's a good
05:50chance it happens now if Mendy wants to move. I think that much is obvious because it could
05:55potentially work for everyone. But we just have to wait and see whether Sunderland decide
05:59that the price tag that's on him and whether that's right and whether that's fair and whether
06:04they're happy to do it and for them to be sure that they don't feel like they can do
06:07a better deal elsewhere. So let's wait and see.
06:10Ethan, thanks for your question, Ethan. Always sends questions in. Much appreciated. Hope
06:13you keep them well. Says, who impressed you the most and who concerned you the most?
06:19I've mentioned Rig and Mienda there, who were excellent. I'm going to chuck one other naming
06:23because I've spoken about those two quite a bit. It's only 20 minutes, so it's really
06:27important we don't get carried away and all that kind of stuff. But I'm sure you all know
06:30listening to all the usual caveats with it being pre-season. Leo Yelder had a fantastic
06:3420-25 minutes off the bench. He said when he first arrived that he saw himself very
06:40much as a centre-half first and a left-back second, which maybe surprised us a little
06:43bit because at the time the need in the team obviously was mostly a left-back. Inconsistent
06:49start I think to a Sunderland career, which maybe you would expect given the team was
06:52struggling. He was really good last night, looked really confident, strong. Martial and
06:58he had a very young defence around him, Jewison Bennett was a left-back, Joe Anderson was
07:01next to him and Timothy Pembele was a right-back. He was talking, he was marshalling, he was
07:06ordering. He looked strong, competed well and he strode out of defence three or four
07:10times really, really well and aggressively. That little header at the end where Sunderland
07:14nearly won the game where Rooson just heads O'Shea's cross over the bar would have been
07:17a great goal by the way. That was all started from Yelder striding out from the back and
07:21breaking the press. So I'm just going to chuck it out there that that was a really, albeit
07:25a very, very small scale. That was a really encouraging introduction from him and so
07:29I'm going to put his name in there. Dennis Lurken, really good left-back. What a difference
07:34it makes both attacking and defending. It just really adds to the balance of the side.
07:38Who concerned me? To be honest, I don't think there were any bad performances last night.
07:41I thought across the board it was pretty solid. The one thing I will say is Dan Ballard was
07:44a big miss. There's an established partnership there that's now been broken up. I didn't
07:49think Elisa and 09 quite had the same understanding and the same sort of confidence, but I'm not
07:53worried at the same time, Ethan, because obviously I think Elisa is a brilliant option.
07:57I think it's a good blend in the centre of defence. I just think it'll take them two
08:01or three games. So if it is those two for the start of the season, I've got absolutely
08:04no reservations. Tony Byrne, thanks Tony for your question. Do we still look a bit goal
08:09shy? Yeah, a little bit. A little bit, like for all the positives I said about Mienda.
08:14Definitely hasn't sort of cracked it and there were three or four chances where a decent
08:17cross actually flashed across the box and someone just didn't have enough bodies in
08:21there and that's definitely a theme from last season. Serkan, who I just mentioned
08:24there, won, he got the by-line, but a brilliant cross into the near post and just nobody quite
08:28made that gamble. So, yeah, I don't feel as if I've seen enough evidence that the goal
08:34scoring issues have been solved, if you like. Sutton do still look a bit goal shy. A few
08:38caveats to that. One is the heat I mentioned. I don't think you're ever going to get the
08:41intensity of performance in those conditions that you will hopefully get in the season.
08:46The calibre of the opposition is obviously important. They're a really good side. You're
08:49not going to commit too many players forward because they can pick you off on the break
08:52when they've got Gibbs, Wyatt, Alanga, Hudson, Odoi, all these players. So a little bit concerned
08:58but not overly so. Tony, wait and see. I think Sunday is going to be an interesting game
09:01because Sunderland should have more on the ball than a very different opponent. So definitely
09:05I still have my reservations. The fact that Sunderland are still trying to sign an experienced
09:08striker suggests they still feel they need that. So definitely want to watch Tony, but
09:12I'm not getting overly concerned. One of the things that was obvious in the game was Le
09:16Brice was trying to get the team to play quicker all the time. Quick, quick, quick.
09:19He kept shouting from just in front of us in the dugout. You can tell that the counter-attack,
09:23they're trying to be more purposeful. They're trying to take as few passes as possible.
09:27And so hopefully we'll kind of see that yield some results. So yes and no, I think is the
09:32answer to that, Tony. Patrick says out of last season's signings who will have the biggest
09:36second year leap? I'm going to chuck Matthew Powell's question in this as well because
09:40he says, can Miander be more of a senior striker next season? I think, Patrick, from what the
09:44evidence so far, it very much looks like it's going to be Miander. As I say, we saw
09:49that he had real talent, real flashes of talent last year. It was just a case of sort of roughing
09:56in the edges out of those games. You forget how young he is. I mean, he's still a kid.
09:59You know, he's not that much older than sort of Joe Bellingham and Chris Reagan. It's important
10:02to keep that in perspective. But yeah, like I say, the fact that the players were happy
10:06to trust him, they backed him to hold the ball up and most of the time he did it. The
10:11penalty obviously came because he picked a really good moment to press and steal the
10:14ball. I've seen some really good signs from him. So I think, Patrick, I would put him
10:17in. Yelder, who I've just mentioned as well, I thought like, oh, he sort of caught my eye.
10:24It's hard to see him starting the season, given the other options, but let's carry about
10:27cup games and all those sorts of things. And I'm thinking if he's at that level, you know,
10:33it's going to give the staff a decision to make. But we'll wait and see on that one.
10:37But yeah, so Patrick, I think either Miander or maybe Reeson, who I think looks sharp as
10:42well. And that was one of the big positives last night. OK, they didn't get a goal. Both
10:45of them held the ball up well. Both of them got into some decent areas at times. And with
10:48another maybe hopefully experienced striker in the building, maybe that's starting to
10:52sort of solve that issue. But yeah, Matthew, from what I've seen so far, you mentioned
10:55there about Miander going out on loan last season. I don't see that happening at the
10:59moment. I just don't. He looks to me like he could be a really useful option. Obviously,
11:02what's the caveat to that? Well, it's obvious, isn't it? If he, if someone go out and sign
11:06another two strikers, then you've already got Reeson in the building. Miander's game
11:10time is going to be really, really squeezed. So that would suggest to me that maybe you
11:14would loan him. But the positive from that scenario is I feel like because of the form
11:18he's in and because of the experience he's now getting, you can maybe get him a loan
11:21where you feel like he's going to play every week. But at the moment, that's not going
11:24to happen, is it? Because he's needed and he's doing well. Howie2008 says, do you think
11:28it would be a good team to watch under Lebris? Yeah, good question. I think hopefully I've
11:32kind of explained why last night wasn't the most exciting performance I've ever seen.
11:36But there were reasons for that. The opposition, the heat, all these kind of things. I do think
11:41Sunderland will be a good team to watch this year. I genuinely do. I think that some of
11:45the little interplay was really, really nice. There was one gorgeous little move where Rigg
11:48played a really risky backheel and got away with it. It was brilliant. Roberts then popped
11:53the first time pass off and Sunderland got 30, 40 yards up the pitch in no time at all.
11:57And some of the little moves, Dan Neil switching it out at the second. There was some really
12:01nice stuff played. And also, as I said, there was a clear goal to try and be really quick
12:06on the counter-attack, be really direct. Not as in long balls, just as in take as few
12:09passes as possible. And early days, really early days. And I suppose the question that
12:14we saw last season will be, how do they cope when they play against a low block and a team
12:17who are trying to slow the game down and make it really difficult? That's when it's kind
12:20of hard to play some really good football. So we'll wait and see. But I'm encouraged
12:24from what I've seen so far, albeit early days. Mike Smith. Mike, nice to hear from you. I
12:29hope you're all keeping well. He says, any crack from Lebris? We didn't speak to Lebris
12:34after the game. Nothing sinister to that at all. Basically, he didn't do any club press
12:41either. I'm really hopeful that we'll speak maybe with a little bit more depth to Lebris
12:46before the trip's out. So just keep an eye on my Twitter page. Anything that I get from
12:50him, I'll obviously put out. I certainly think we'll hear from him at the end of tomorrow's
12:54game, if not before. So yeah, nothing sinister to that. He didn't do press, but he will be
12:59at some point. So just keep your eyes peeled. And the last question from Hannah is, how
13:03many players do you think Sunderland will realistically sign? I had to write these down
13:06because I haven't got my laptop. So we've gone old school. I hope you appreciate the
13:10effort I've gone to for all your questions. Thanks for sending them in. Loads of really
13:13good questions this week. I've really enjoyed chatting through them. Hannah, I think it's
13:17a really interesting question. A lot of it depends on outcomes. Sunderland squad's pretty
13:21big actually this season. They made 10 subs yesterday and kind of all those players that
13:26they brought on, maybe with the exception of Tommy Watson, would be players that you
13:31would expect to be in the first team this season. Even Watson would feel he's knocking
13:34on the door. When I spoke to Christian speaking earlier this summer, he said, listen, we're
13:38definitely trying to add quality. We're definitely trying to do numerous signings. But we feel
13:41we've got a much stronger and a much bigger base than last season. So I don't envisage
13:46loads and loads of signings. Now, obviously, with the squad now, it's obvious that some
13:49of the players are going to go out on loan. Joe Anderson, I think, is one who's pretty
13:52obvious. Jewison Bennett, I think, is another one. He obviously came on at left back last
13:57night because Romain Mundell came on on the left wing. That would suggest he's not right
14:00at the top of the pecking order. So maybe a loan for him. Emberton, the Mateti, two
14:05possible loan options. Although, having said that, I thought Emberton looked really strong
14:08when he came on last night. So let's wait and see how that develops. So I don't think
14:12there's a need, Hannah, for like six or seven signings. I just don't. I think someone will
14:17definitely look to bring in another striker. We know that they're looking at this Mendy
14:20deal. The reason they haven't done it yet is because there's other options on the table
14:24as well. So there's one for sure. Will they look to strengthen in defence now that Ballard's
14:33injured? Possible, but not guaranteed. Will they look to add another attacker midfielder
14:38slash winger? I think probably. But I do have to say that I think a lot of it at the moment
14:43is dependent on outgoings. They will have to add another player if Jack Clarke goes,
14:48that's obvious. They will have to add another player if Dan Neal goes, that's obvious. But
14:53I don't think that will happen, I'm just saying. So to be honest, Hannah, I genuinely think we
14:57could be looking at two, three, four if everybody stays who suddenly want to stay. I think the core
15:05of the team is pretty much locked in for the start of next season. The big thing that will
15:08change, as I mentioned a few times there, is outgoings could completely change the picture
15:12very quickly. But I don't see a huge amount of business if everybody stays. I see an attempt to
15:19add two or three bits of real quality to the group rather than a major turnover. So there we go,
15:25that's all your questions. Thanks so much for sending them in. It's always such a pleasure to
15:28get so many nice questions in. I'm so grateful to you all for engaging and watching the videos as
15:33well. It makes it like I really look forward to do them when I know that there's interest in them
15:37and people want to listen. It's really nice chatting with you all on Twitter as well. So
15:42thanks again so much. Loads of bits and bobs already on the website today. Some news stories,
15:49my moments you might have missed from the game, looking a little bit behind the curtain from the
15:53Friendly. Best fan pictures and the best pictures in the UK, that'll be going on the website fairly
15:58soon. And then yeah, we'll have loads more stuff later in the day and I'll be back tomorrow morning
16:02with another video in which I'm going to preview the Al Dents Friendly and then I'll do standard
16:06coverage from that game tomorrow night. So hope you all have a fantastic Saturday. I hope it's
16:10warm at home. I hope it's sunny back in Wearside. Get out there and enjoy it and we'll see you
16:16tomorrow for some more video content. Thanks for watching.