Phil Smith discusses Eliezer Mayenda's performance at West Brom in his regular Q&A with Sunderland Echo readers
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00:00your questions and I'm going to start I'm pretty sure I have a question on those and
00:08that substitution decision so obviously and the natural replacement if you like would have been
00:13Tommy Watson in terms of being an I don't know left winger but instead the breeze tend to me
00:17end it and then later in the game which I'll be it was more of a time waste and so in the
00:22tactical so very much later in the game he actually brought Milano Lecic on other than
00:26Tommy Watson so I've had a few questions on this so Ross says does RLB's refusal to give Tommy
00:31Watson any minutes today tell its own story? Ian says snubbing Watson both times do you think
00:37there's anything to read into this or was it purely tactical? Davey says after the week Watson
00:43has I think it was sensible not to use him today but if Mundell is out for a while I think we'll
00:46see Watson soon. So yeah it's obviously a big talking point coming out of the game I asked
00:53after the game whether you know Watson would have come on had we not learned this week that he was
00:56going to join Brighton you know whether the two things were related he said that he felt that it
01:01was more about how unfortunate Eliza Mienda has been in terms of not being in the starting 11
01:06because of the quality of his performances and he said it was an obvious decision to go with Mienda
01:11even if it's not his strongest position he feels that the experience he's gained over the course
01:15of the season the added versatility has now that he was kind of next in line in my opinion I think
01:21the two are definitely related in terms of I think the fact that Mienda is so sort of connected
01:26is the word that Labreece would use to the club that he's so driven so obviously motivated
01:30and I think is part of the reason why he moved ahead of Watson I don't think there's any doubt
01:35about that but having said that I think that Mienda was was excellent in his performance
01:41every time he got the ball I thought he made something happen didn't see a lot of the ball
01:45because of the game state and the fact that West Brom were dominating possession but he always
01:48made something happen whether it was getting past the plate create a chance winning the free kick
01:52as of course he did for Hulme's winner I thought it was a really really strong performance and I
01:56think that it's one that really establishes himself as the next in line and if that seems
02:01very likely Mundell isn't playing on Tuesday I don't think there's any doubt that Mienda will
02:05start and I think he deserves that opportunity now throwing it forward I don't think we should
02:11read into this that that Watson doesn't have a part of play between now and the end of the season
02:15I think it's been a um it's been a quite intense week for him he's obviously been the center of all
02:20the headlines all the stories um I think that when the dust settles a little bit in the weeks ahead
02:25I think that Lebris might be more minded to use him albeit it looks like it's probably going to
02:29be as an impact so broad in the starter I think that realistically I don't think someone can
02:35afford to go at the end of the season not using Watson especially if Mundell does have an injury
02:39it's going to keep him out for a while he's the most obvious direct replacement Mienda did a
02:42really good job yesterday we know Le Fay can play out there we know Oleksij can play out there
02:47but in terms of the way Sunderland set up the familiarity of their system the way they like to
02:51play Watson is the obvious next replacement and I think that Sunderland realistically are going to
02:55have to use him one of the reasons why Sunderland didn't sell Watson on deadline day was because
03:00they couldn't get a replacement and they felt that Watson was in a really good
03:04um headspace even if he did you know was open to the idea of moving Brighton they didn't have
03:08any concerns over his professionalism and his readiness to contribute so I think having made
03:14that decision I think they have to stick to that and Watson is going to have to be used
03:18are players like Mienda going to be further ahead of them because of the fact that they're obviously
03:22connected to the long term of the club I think that's obvious but I think that you know I think
03:28realistically if Mundell is out for a while we're going to have to see Watson if Lebris prefers to
03:32use him as a substitute then I think that's more than fair but I don't think it's realistic for
03:36him to be kind of snubbed if you like between now and the end of the season I think Sunderland
03:40have made that decision and I think they will have to give him an opportunity at some point
03:44then of course it's up to Watson it's up to the the level of performance he brings
03:48and we'll see you know what where his kind of headspace is but I think I still think he's going
03:52to be an important player particularly um in the in the light of that Mundell injury we don't know
03:58how severe it's going to be yet but if it's the same hamstring there's obviously a chance it's
04:02going to be a while so