On the latest episode of The Roar podcast, Sunderland writer James Copley discusses Dennis Cirkin's withdrawal from England's U21s squad.
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00:00Yeah, I do feel for the lad, I think his call-ups warranted over the course of the season.
00:05I do feel like he has been perhaps not at his usual standard after his wrist surgery or his hand surgery.
00:12I think he's come back and done OK, but he hasn't sort of hit those heights that he had earlier on in the season.
00:17I mean, that Coventry game at home when he scored that goal was brilliant.
00:20And around then, his levels were sort of through the roof.
00:24But just, maybe he's like Sunderland, hasn't really hit those heights consistently towards the back end of the season in this little run.
00:32But he's a player that I like.
00:33He's a player whereby Sunderland's defence is always going to be better when he's fit and available for selection.
00:39He's streets ahead of Leo Hjelda, with all respect to Leo Hjelda.
00:43And I think his injury would be a blow if he isn't back for Millwall.
00:46Obviously, Sunderland haven't really noted the extent of his injury yet.
00:51So, you never know.
00:53His withdrawal from England under 21s could be one in which they've said, basically, don't play him because we're going to need him for Millwall.
01:01We need to protect him, all of that sort of stuff.
01:03You hope that's the case.
01:05And it's with a view to him being fit for the Championship.
01:08And the worst case scenario was that he's been withdrawn because he's going to be injured for a while, which obviously we don't have that information yet.
01:15I think what's positive from Lebris' standpoint is that he did strongly hint that Hjelda will be back.
01:21So, he could probably play in that left-back position.
01:24He's looked OK.
01:25Obviously, he got that assist against Sheffield Wednesday.
01:27He's probably going to look better the more he plays, in fairness to him, because he's been so in and out the side, hasn't he?
01:33Other option you could have, Lugonine going over a left-back.
01:35But then, yeah, you're short on centre-backs then, aren't you?
01:38With Jenson Sealt only having just returned, it would be a big ass to throw him in against Millwall.
01:42He came on in the second half against Coventry City.
01:44Obviously, but I don't think that was the plan at all, to be honest.
01:48I think that was enforced more than anything.
01:50So, all of a sudden, that defence, where you thought it was well-stocked, it's starting to look a bit...
01:56The cupboard's looking a bit barer than it did, isn't it, with Ballard being out.
02:01He's expected to be a little bit longer than Le Fay, isn't he?
02:04So, maybe he's two or three weeks behind.
02:07So, I don't know.
02:08Le Fay might be back for Millwall.
02:09He might be back for West Brom.
02:12Yeah, it's like with injuries, it's like you get given one thing,
02:16but you get two things taken away, isn't it, with Sunderland?
02:18Like, you know, we had this brilliant French sentiment field at play on the left wing,
02:23and then Romain Mundel's injured, but he comes back and then Le Fay gets injured.
02:28And it's just like, oh, great.
02:29We can now choose from Lugonine, Dan Ballard and Chris Meppan, but oh, wait, Ballard's out again.
02:35And it's just so frustrating, isn't it, from a fan perspective?
02:38And obviously from their perspective as well, the players.