Phil Smith and James Copley react to Sunderland’s heavy loss to Coventry City

Sunderland Echo

Transcript

00:00 James Copley and Phil Smith from New Sunderland Echo.

00:03 Sunderland have just lost weight on the Coventry City and the Steading of Lights.

00:07 Phil, I want to be balanced and I don't want to over-egg things,

00:11 but that was for me the worst day of the season so far.

00:15 Niall Huggins went off with an injury.

00:17 What's your assessment of that?

00:19 Because in terms of the atmosphere as well, which is probably where we should start,

00:24 that was bordering on a little bit toxic at times, I thought.

00:27 Yeah, I think, listen, it was a dismal afternoon.

00:29 It's another strange one and it's another game that shouldn't have lost.

00:33 They certainly shouldn't have lost it 3-0.

00:35 The stats, the number of chances both sides created was pretty similar

00:40 and I think that would be borne out when you look at the XG later or whatever.

00:44 But at the same time, it comes to a point where you don't really feel like you can take any consolation for that.

00:49 It's the same thing every single week and it's all well and good.

00:53 James and the head coach are talking about your high performance, culture and all these kinds of things.

00:58 The biggest problem at this club with Bournemouth is there's nobody in the penalty box who can score the goals

01:01 and we can all see it.

01:02 I'm not sure it was fair on Bar to play him up front today.

01:06 He's missed a big chance but I don't see how that works for him.

01:09 Especially when Bellingham was batting the side, I just thought that was unusual.

01:12 Can we give Michael Bale a slight out given that Pritchard was early on in the plan?

01:17 Pritchard would have played. We know how important a player he is.

01:20 I'm definitely not pinning that on Bale but I thought that just summed the game up really.

01:24 I thought that was the difference between the two sides, the difference in both penalty boxes.

01:28 Coventry were so ruthless, picked their moments and Sunderland just didn't take theirs.

01:33 That's what I mean when I say in some ways it's a harsh scoreline,

01:37 it's a harsh reflection on the players in terms of the overall balance of the game.

01:40 But it comes to a certain point, 23 games in the season when you've lost 10 times,

01:44 it's pretty much the same way over and over again.

01:46 It's incredibly frustrating.

01:48 The atmosphere, it is what it is.

01:50 If you make a decision to get rid of a really popular communicator who's getting decent results,

01:54 it has to work, otherwise that's what's going to happen.

01:56 And to be fair, we just spoke to Bale there.

01:58 I don't think he was particularly upset by it or disappointed by it.

02:01 I think he totally understands it.

02:03 Yeah, absolutely. He apologised to fans as well.

02:06 I believe it's the biggest loss in the first manager results history, in Sunderland's history actually.

02:15 So we're off to a good start there.

02:17 But just yeah, a very harrowing afternoon.

02:20 But the thing is, Sunderland have to respond to this because Hull is on boxing day,

02:23 which is in what, three days' time?

02:25 I love a really good side.

02:26 I know that's obvious to say that because they're in the playoffs.

02:29 But they're six, seven points ahead of Sunderland now.

02:32 So it's already a huge game.

02:36 Sunderland have a big problem now obviously because Huggins clearly won't be playing.

02:40 I don't know what you thought, but the indications there seem to be that his season could well be over,

02:44 which is just a shocking blow for him.

02:46 What an absolute shame because he's been a joy to watch this season

02:49 in the context of the injury problems he's been plagued with since he came to club.

02:53 He's a really nice lad, comes across really well in his interviews.

02:56 He was enjoying his football and yet, getting stretched off and then the noises after the game

03:02 and Mike not being able to see anyone for a second.

03:04 It's a huge blow because he's been a massive this season.

03:07 It's a massive blow and the biggest credit you can pay him is that it's not just a blow for him personally,

03:12 it's a huge blow for the team because that's how good he's been this season.

03:15 It hasn't just been that he's managed to get back fit, that's great.

03:18 He's given himself an absolute integral part of his side and if he's not fit,

03:21 which clearly he isn't going to be for Boxing Day, that's going to be a huge hole he leaves in the team.

03:25 That's credit to him in what he's done in the last few weeks.

03:27 I just pray that maybe, fingers crossed, it isn't as bad as it first appeared

03:31 because that is just a huge, huge blow for the lad.

03:34 Well, that was Sunderland's worst day of the season.

03:36 We'll end it there because there's a very loud tractor that'll drive past us in a second.

03:39 Merry Christmas to all the Sunderland fans and thank you for watching.

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