Phil answers questions from readers in the latest episode of #onthewhistle
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hello everyone and welcome to the latest edition of On The Whistle. Thanks for joining me.
00:14Apologies if I'm not my absolute best. It's been a long day and I'm feeling very tired
00:19but I thought why not have a late night chat about Sunderland. I've poured myself a glass
00:23of whiskey so let's get straight into it. Sunderland nil, QPR nil. I think it's a game
00:28that you probably from a Sunderland perspective have to break down into two quite distinct
00:32parts. The first hour before Job Bellingham's red card, which I have to say I thought probably
00:37was a red card. No malice in the challenge whatsoever but ultimately he was late, his
00:42studs were up. I think if that's an opposition player makes that challenge I think you're
00:45screaming for a red and I think Job's reaction summed it up really. I think he knew and I
00:51think from a Sunderland perspective no need for an overreaction or any drama. Job's been
00:55amazing. He plays a high intensity, combative midfield role. He's been late in this challenge
01:01and hopefully some of it will just be learned from. I think from a Sunderland perspective
01:06I think the first hour of the game was a little bit disappointing. I think albeit they still
01:11had some pretty good chances in the first half. Hulme played a patent whistle door that
01:15he blasted just wide of the far post. Dan Neal obviously hit the post with that brilliant
01:19effort from about 20 yards where he took the volley on first time. I thought QPR shaded
01:25it in the first hour. Not complete dominance. I didn't think Sunderland were poor. They
01:28certainly didn't dominate the game. But I thought that sometimes Sunderland played through
01:33QPR's press really, really nicely. A lot of times they kind of struggled. QPR put some
01:38really dangerous crosses into the box. I think if they had a more confident striker up front
01:42and a better finisher up front I think they would have taken the lead at some stage through
01:46that first phase. After the Joe Bellingham red card I have to say that for half an hour
01:52I think Sunderland's performance was in the context of where they were in the game pretty
01:56much flawless. There was a five minute period after the red where Sunderland understandably
02:01looked shaken and I thought QPR might score. The striker obviously had a big chance where
02:05he wrapped one just wide of the far post. Jimmy Dunne then had a close range header
02:10where he headed it thankfully straight to Simon Moore but that was a really big opportunity
02:14and he probably should have done better. After that I can only remember QPR having shot some
02:20distance. I never actually felt like Sunderland were in danger of conceding unless a 30-yard
02:24or a 25-yard effort flew in the top corner. I thought that Sunderland understood immediately
02:30that a point was going to be a good point. I think that they dug in really, really well
02:34and defended their box well. Again, Chris Meckham who maybe in the first half hadn't
02:39been at his absolute sharpest that we've seen him. I thought he was brilliant in the last
02:4320-25 minutes winning the first contact at corners, drawing fouls, slowing the game down.
02:49I think it's full credit to Sunderland that ultimately at the end of the day they
02:53come out of a really, really difficult game with a very valuable point. Another clean
02:57sheet and I think it's one that ultimately QPR will feel a bit aggrieved that they didn't
03:04win three points. I think you can see they're a team that are missing key players in the
03:08final third. They're lacking a bit of confidence but I feel like because of the discipline
03:13Sunderland showed in the last half hour they deserved that point because I think to limit
03:17a team to as little as they did with 10 men I think was impressive.
03:22So the first question I've got in, let's get straight into your questions, is from Chris.
03:25He says, are you disappointed you didn't win or is it a point gained? To be honest, I say
03:33it very, very much is a point gained. I know obviously the table, QPR are second bottom
03:39and they're struggling. I was so impressed with the job that Marius Hifuentes did last
03:43season. I expected QPR to be organised. I expected them to be strong on home turf. I
03:49thought they were good. I think sometimes it kind of shows just why a championship is
03:53such a competitive division. I think you've got to show a lot of respect to the way they
03:57played. Like I said, I thought the pressing was good. They got in some dangerous areas.
04:01I thought they looked like a half decent championship team, albeit lacking quality in the final
04:06third. And I think that from Sunderland's perspective, yes, it was a bit disappointing
04:10that they weren't at their best for the first hour. But I think, again, we spoke about the
04:13whole game, about how the confidence and the unity you can take from in that circumstance
04:19grinding out a win. I think for Sunderland to grind out a point in these circumstances
04:24is a big plus for me. I think that Sunderland have been so good at home all season so far.
04:30If away from home you can be resilient and you can be tough to break down and pick up
04:35points here and there, pick up wins here and there as they've done, then you're not going
04:38to be far off. So for me, I very much am taking the positives from it. I think it's
04:43a point gained.
04:45So the next question is Michael saying, will Rigg be available for Preston? Yeah, so we
04:54don't know exactly what the nature of the issue is with Chris Rigg, why he missed the
04:59game. LaBrie said afterwards he didn't want to comment on it too much because his quote
05:04was, I'm not a doctor. As far as we understand that Rigg had an issue towards the end of
05:08the week in training. It's been checked out and basically he's fine in terms of there
05:14are no long-term issues. So LaBrie said he was confident the Rigg would return to training
05:19next week. That's obviously really great news for the player first and foremost, but also
05:23for the team. So if you want my honest opinion, I would say personally, I think he's a major
05:28doubt for Preston. I think that there won't be a lot of training time between now and
05:32then. I don't think Sunderland will want to risk someone of his age if he's had a bit
05:36of an issue over the last week. I think they'll want to be cautious. Clearly, if he's fully
05:40fit and available, they'll pick him because with Job's red card, they certainly need him.
05:44But I think at this point, I would think it would be safe to assume that he's a big, big
05:48doubt for that Preston game. But obviously we'll wait and see. Mike says, hi Mike. He
05:53says LaBrie has certainly built on some resilience, saw that Luton in a different way here. QPR
05:57never had a sniff after the red. Completely agree with that. Really impressive. Other
06:01than the first couple of minutes, like I said, when they had those chances, I didn't think
06:03they created much. There is depth, which will be tested if Rigg is out for long with
06:09Job. Brings the Hendo return in January into full focus for me. Sam Edd risked this week?
06:16Yeah, I just don't think Sam Edd's going to be ready. As far as I'm aware, he's not even
06:20in full training. He certainly wasn't training with the team on Tuesday when they had an
06:23open training session. I don't expect Sunderland to rush him back. The main reason why it's
06:28taken so long is because they've been a little cautious and they don't want a risk of recurrence
06:34because they feel that would potentially keep them out for quite a number of months. So
06:37I just don't see them risking Sam Edd, even though I'll be it. Clearly it would be very
06:42useful. But yeah, I think it's a good point in terms of the Henderson thing that what
06:48feels like a position of strength can turn very, very, very quickly. And we've seen that
06:51this week with all of a sudden with Job and Rigg. Now, Gaz, Clayton, Chris, all asking
06:59the big question, I think we've all got really, is that if Rigg doesn't make it on Wednesday,
07:02which is a distinct possibility, how's Labriez going to do it? It's actually a really, really
07:07difficult one to guess, isn't it? Now, the obvious thing would be to say that you've
07:11got Aushish, who scored for the under-21s this morning. You've got Oleksich, who's someone
07:15they paid a lot of money for. It's time to give them their goal. But we know that Labriez
07:19has been ultra-cautious with Oleksich. He doesn't want to expose him too early. He feels
07:24like he's still getting grips with the language, with the game model, and he doesn't want to
07:27knock his confidence by putting them in too early. Given that he hasn't risked him even
07:31with minutes off the bench, safe home to Oxford, is he going to suddenly throw him in at the
07:35start and wait at present? I find it quite hard to see that. I think it's unlikely. So
07:40for me, it's probably, we're looking at a formation change, I think would be my guess.
07:45If Ballard's fit, do you go with back three, play Mepham, Ballard 0-9, and that obviously
07:50allows you to bring another forward in? Or, which I think is a possibility, do you go
07:54for with a 4-4-2? Is it a chance to give Aaron Connolly his first start? Something to basically
07:59play with a 4-4-2 out of possession anyway. The only difference would be that you'd be
08:02asking either Isidoro or Connolly basically to drop in and join in with those triangles
08:08in possession. But it's going to be really interesting because I think one of the biggest
08:11strengths of Lebris is he's been really, he's had real clarity with how he sets the
08:15team up. He's relied on a small core of players and they've obviously had really good understanding
08:19as a result. The downside is that when you pick up a few injuries, you're potentially
08:23bringing in players who are short of fitness and rhythm. So it's going to be a really interesting
08:27challenge. Obviously, fingers crossed that Chris Rigg is available for Wednesday, but
08:31if not, it's going to be a really interesting test of Lebris' coaching ingenuity. So yeah,
08:36thanks for your questions. Hopefully, you've enjoyed the video. Like I say, I think for
08:39me, not what we wanted from the game, not what we hoped Sunderland would produce, but
08:43ultimately, I think it's another point in the right direction and I think full credit
08:47to the players and the staff. I think one thing you can say about the Sunderland team
08:51is this season is they're never giving up and they're fighting for every point. Yeah,
08:55it's another point on the board. Hopefully, three more come on Wednesday. Thanks for watching.