Sunderland 2-0 Preston: Echo writers react to Rusyn goal and Alese return
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00:00 Here at the Stadium of Light, where Sunderland have started the new year with a 2-0 win over
00:06 Preston. Goals from Alex Pritchard and Nazir Roussin. Roussin's first goal for the club
00:11 gave Sunderland the win. James Michael Beale has just been in. He said in the second half
00:16 he didn't think his side were great and kind of mentioned the schedule, playing four games
00:20 in ten days and that kind of told at the end. But great goal from Pritchard at the start
00:24 and Sunderland probably deserve winners in the end for that first half performance.
00:28 Yes, the first half was really good. Obviously, the second half was a little bit flat. I thought
00:32 Roussin was really good starting up front. He worked really hard, deserved his goal.
00:36 Was a striker in the right place at the right time. Fantastic run by Clark for that second
00:42 goal. Pritchard brilliant as well for the first. And really, that second half performance
00:47 by Sunderland, they didn't really have to do a lot because Preston didn't really offer
00:51 that much. So I've seen a few people saying that Sunderland should have really gone for
00:55 a jugular. I think given how many games Sunderland have had, they were probably quite happy just
01:00 to sit off and let that one play out because as I say, Preston weren't offering too much.
01:04 I can't think of too many clear-cut chances. There was maybe a few half chances for Preston
01:08 on half-volleys and whatnot. But fairly comfortable. But as you mentioned, a really, really excellent
01:14 second half with a few welcome boosts as well, I would say.
01:17 Yes, I think Pritchard got Skye's man of the match. He kind of started on the right-hand
01:22 side and I thought he did well, kind of drifting in, into the centre and kind of making runs
01:27 outside on the right in the first half and obviously a great goal. And he's a player
01:31 now that Sunderland have a question to ask, do they offer him a new contract? He's out
01:36 of contract at the end of the season, hasn't been getting regular starts this season, but
01:40 when he has played in recent weeks, he's been making a significant impact.
01:43 He always seems to make an impact, especially this season. He's done it for Sunderland over
01:47 a number of campaigns now. Let's not forget that the plan was for Dak to come in and Pritchard
01:53 to leave. In the summer that didn't happen. Pritchard stayed, thank God, because he's
01:57 contributed a fair amount over the season. I would personally give him another year.
02:03 I think he's a really, really good asset. You need him. You need players like that.
02:07 You need experience. I mean, this is a player that I think he was bought once by Huddersfield
02:11 for about £11-12 million. He's a quality operator and you get quality around him and
02:15 he can really show his talent. He linked up well today with Clark at times, Bellingham
02:21 as well. You need quality footballers and Alex Pritchard is certainly one of them. Six
02:28 months left on his contract, he's performing well in front of the Sky's cameras and he's
02:32 getting some of that goes out of the match, Sky's out of the match. Everyone can see how
02:35 good he is in his performances. So, there's probably going to be interest. Can Sunderland
02:40 persuade him to sign a new deal? Will they want to offer him a new deal? I don't know,
02:44 but I think there'll be a lot of clubs looking at Alex Pritchard. Alex Pritchard doesn't
02:49 owe Sunderland anything. He's been a great servant to help the club get promoted. So,
02:52 if he wanted to go and sign for somewhere else and get a nice signing on bonus, then
02:56 that would absolutely be his prerogative because Sunderland haven't shown the loyalty towards
03:01 him last summer. They've sort of let this contract situation develop and Pritchard hasn't
03:07 changed. He's still firing, he's still in form, still contributing. So, fair play to
03:11 him.
03:12 I think Tony Moorer did say in the summer that he expected Pritchard to leave and that
03:16 obviously could change with recent performances. But we talked about Roos in as well, first
03:20 goal for him. I thought at times in the first half it was kind of difficult for him to get
03:24 involved when Preston put men behind the ball. But I thought it was a great run for the goal
03:27 to run just from behind his man and then get on the end of Clark's cross and it could be
03:32 a big confidence booster for him now getting that first goal of the season.
03:36 Yeah, I think the most recent games against Hull and Rotherham have sort of underlined
03:41 how Sunderland have missed somebody coming in and attacking the front post and just been
03:46 in and around the six-yard area. Obviously, that's happened a fair amount over the course
03:50 of the first part of the season as well. It's been blatantly obvious that we've needed somebody
03:53 to make those runs with a bit of Poacher's instinct. It's always difficult because Joe
03:59 Gellhart last season was trying to fill Ross Stewart's shoes and it's very hard because
04:03 there aren't a lot of Ross Stewarts about the place and about Britain. But what Ross
04:08 Stewart used to do was he used to put himself around, he used to make intelligent runs,
04:11 he used to stretch defences and he used to be Johnny on the spot in the right place at
04:13 the right time. We saw from Roos in although is he ever going to be as prolific as Ross
04:19 Stewart? Probably not. But is there a good striker? Yes, I think there is because you
04:23 needed to be in the right position at the right time. Brilliant run by Clark by the
04:26 way who made that goal just sensational. He scored, he got in the right position, it was
04:32 a good finish. But I think further to that as well which Michael Beale referenced was
04:37 he put himself about a bit and Michael Beale's exact words in the press conference were 'even
04:42 if he doesn't score at least he's given you something up front'. I think Sunderland have
04:46 really, really, really missed that outlet and I think it's contributed to Sunderland
04:50 losing games as well because you need to stretch defences at times and you need to pin defences
04:56 back and I think Roosin can do that. Obviously Michael Beale mentioned his personal circumstances
05:02 as well. I didn't realise that his family, he's married with a child. They're not actually
05:07 in Britain at the moment so we've all been questioning why Roosin's not really bedded
05:12 in and we've paid money for this 24/25 year old and he hasn't hit the ground running.
05:16 There's a lot of things to consider as well and we should probably note that in our analysis
05:19 going forward when criticising new players because he's been in the door six months,
05:24 big move to a new country, he's finally got that first goal. Monty off his back, hopefully
05:28 he kicks on now because I like his work rate and I like his passion. He was off celebrating
05:33 with the Sunderland fans with a Ukraine flag at the end of the Roper End. Love to see stuff
05:37 like that so hopefully he can really get going now on the Sunderland shirt.
05:41 It's also good to see Adjaye Elisa back today. He made his first start of the season, played
05:46 just over an hour. I thought he looked pretty solid at left back, kind of grew into the
05:49 game. Sunderland now have just under a week to prepare for a small matter of the weird
05:54 kind derby back here on Saturday but they'll go into that game now with a few days now
05:59 on the training pitch to be able to work with them after this busy period. So what kind
06:03 of shape do you think they're looking at going into that game?
06:06 I think it's really interesting. Obviously there's a big question mark about Patrick
06:09 Roberts who they said they're going to send for a scan tomorrow. I don't think it looks
06:14 good for the Newcastle game for him personally but having Adjaye Elisa back potentially again
06:19 for that game is very welcome. We both asked questions, I asked it of Michael Bale and
06:24 you asked it of Adjaye himself speaking afterwards about is he a left back or a centre back now
06:29 and I think the message was well he can do both. So I think in that sense it's really
06:34 really beneficial to have somebody like that back, especially with the injury to Niall
06:38 Huggins. He adds height, he adds presence, he's composed on the ball. You can tell that
06:42 he came up through a Premier League academy. Unfortunately he got injured against Luton
06:45 last year in the play-off semis but huge huge boost having him back. Obviously Timothy Pembele
06:50 is starting to play off the bench for Sunderland as well. But it's a shame that Dak and Roberts
06:57 have gone down and look like they could potentially both miss the Newcastle game. Huggins is out
07:02 as well so what he gives you with one hand he takes away with the other it seems to feel
07:08 at the moment. But yeah, Adjaye Elisa, he's a brilliant player I think for Sunderland,
07:12 he's got a big future.
07:13 And you can read more about today's match over on the SFC section of the Sunderland
07:17 Echo website and we'll also have build-up throughout the week leading up to that huge
07:21 Weartime derby against Newcastle back here at the Stadium of Light.