Phil Smith and James Copley react as Sunderland suffer heavy defeat
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00:00Hello, Phil Smith and James Copley here for the Sunderland Echoes. Sunderland have just lost 3-0 at the CBS Arena against Coventry City.
00:07You had, you're right, Patrick Phil Dyer.
00:10Yeah, it was really, really poor. It was the kind of performance that feels a bit like March 2024 all over again, really, where, you know, at that stage we were talking about all the things that were going on at the club,
00:19but especially that Blackburn game, we talked about the players just not producing enough and I thought that's what happened today.
00:24It's not very often we've said it this season, like, they've been such a spirited group, giving it all for the shirt,
00:28but I thought today they just weren't at it at all, lost pretty much every second ball, really, really, really sloppy.
00:34Coventry were excellent, like, let's have it right, like, really good players in good form.
00:38I thought they produced an excellent performance from Sunderland, they just didn't turn up, I thought, pretty much from minute one.
00:43They were sat so deep, couldn't get up to the ball, passing was just really sloppy, weren't winning drills anywhere off the pitch, really.
00:49It was quite a worrying performance, especially with Dennis Urquhart limping off in the second half with all the defensive injuries you've got,
00:53it's hard to imagine how that could have gone much worse.
00:56First time Sunderland have lost by more than a one-goal margin since May 4th.
01:01That's what's concerning for me, Phil, is that Sunderland have lost games this season but it's usually been marginal and it's been by a goal or so.
01:09Today they were just ripped apart, they didn't turn up.
01:11I thought Lebris' selection and substitutions can possibly be questioned, it's always easy to say that after a loss.
01:16I thought Alan Brown needed to come on, potentially should have even started the game.
01:20That's what we thought we were going to see, didn't we?
01:23Obviously it's easy in hindsight to go through these things, but when you look at how tired the midfield were in the first half,
01:29how poor I thought all three of the three midfielders were, and they've been excellent this season so I'm not digging anyone out.
01:34It just didn't look shabby today, they were really, really poor.
01:36I thought it was incredible that they didn't change it at half-time and then to not bring Alan Brown on.
01:43The actual subs in terms of going to a 4-4-2, bringing Easton on, did work briefly, Sunderland had a couple of good chances,
01:48it definitely pushed Coventry back, so that element of it was absolutely fine,
01:51but I couldn't believe really that he didn't look to get some fresh legs on in midfield, I was really, really surprised at that.
01:56And that's the main worry for me, it's just how many players at the moment look tired and a long way short of their best.
02:01You could pretty much go all over the pitch really, I thought Luton 9 was really good today,
02:04did pretty much everything you would want your defender to do.
02:07Other than that, I don't think anyone had a particularly good game and there's so few players who look fresh and at their best.
02:11There's still time to sort that before the end of the season, but in terms of the momentum and the way that these two squads look at the moment,
02:17there is absolutely not a huge discussion.
02:19Well, Coventry City look like a play-off site to me, Sunderland don't at the moment,
02:22Sunderland are probably going to still finish in the play-offs bar in a monumental, spectacular drop-off,
02:27but to me Phil, it's worrying because the form and the momentum mounting, it's pretty hard to get up there,
02:31it's hard to stay there, but once you're on the slide on the way back down, it's very hard to get back up there.
02:36That'll be the concern for Sunderland fans, coming into a potential play-off campaign,
02:39and I'll say potential until the deal is closed, but you don't want to enter or limp into the play-offs really, do we?
02:46No, and there's still time to turn that around, that's the one positive.
02:49We have to give these players some credit in that we have not talked about performances like this all season,
02:55it's incredibly rare for us to question the application.
02:57The last time we did was Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers last season.
03:00Yeah, so I think that's worth bearing in mind, there is still time to get things right, freshen things up,
03:05but that was a really, really concerning performance today, and let's be fair,
03:10if some of them are still playing that by going into the play-offs, they're going to find it very difficult to get through.
03:15So, yeah, a lot of worrying things on show today.
03:18Slightly concerning as well that it feels like it's been coming for a little while,
03:22it's stagnated, the performances have just dropped a little bit.
03:25Yeah, it's been very unusual for them to be that far off the pace, I think,
03:29but as you say, as I was saying before, there's so few players who feel like they're at their best form and feeling really fresh,
03:34and that's why we haven't seen them anywhere near their best for a while,
03:37and that's definitely the concern, is that can the Brits correct that?
03:40Can you rest the players who need to? Can you bring the players in who need minutes?
03:43It definitely needs freshening up. I think you can really, really feel that at the moment.
03:47Yeah, absolutely. Not much more to add from me, Phil, do you?
03:50No, just a shocking afternoon.
03:52We're a bit stunned here, aren't we?
03:54On the whistle, tomorrow, podcast probably coming Monday.
03:57Obviously, we're heading to the international break, but head over to the Summer Record for all of your latest news and views,
04:02all of that sort of stuff. Thanks again for watching.