Why were Sunderland so bad against Huddersfield Town? YOUR questions answered after bad loss
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00:00 [Silence]
00:13 [Thunder]
00:14 Hello, it's Phil here. Welcome to the latest edition of On The Whistle.
00:17 Now, apologies that I am moving and it's probably a bit wobbly,
00:21 but I'm going to take you a bit behind the curtain here.
00:23 Unfortunately, I can't do it at Huddersfield because we're in the Gasworks car park,
00:27 which is a fair walk away.
00:30 And basically, I need to get there before they lock in.
00:32 So I thought rather than not do a video at all, I thought I would take your questions on the move.
00:36 So I've written them on my hand.
00:38 So I can't remember your names, but thank you very much for sending them in.
00:41 Unsurprisingly, a lot of emotion after a very frustrating performance.
00:44 So let me take the...
00:46 It is raining, so I'm a bit worried these might get washed off as well, but we'll soldier on.
00:50 So the first question is about set pieces. Basically, why is someone so bad at them?
00:54 Well, I think it's a massive issue, isn't it?
00:56 Another set piece tonight, such a sloppy one to concede.
00:58 I think you almost accept the sum and there's not a huge amount of height in the team.
01:02 So you think if someone scores a thunderous header, you can kind of understand it,
01:05 but that one is just such a poor one to concede.
01:08 Going forward, I think the reason why they're so poor at set pieces is fairly obvious.
01:12 I think it's one of the reasons why Alex Pritchard's such a massive loss from the team.
01:16 I think without him, you know, there isn't a natural set piece taker, certainly not from corners.
01:20 And I think the inconsistency of delivery is essentially a reflection of the fact
01:24 that there's no one there to replace him.
01:26 And I think Solinda are going to have to have a big think moving forward about how they take set pieces.
01:30 When Pritchard didn't play at the start of the year, they took short corners a lot.
01:34 And I actually think that might be a better avenue because at the moment, the delivery just isn't there.
01:38 Having said that, should have scored late on when Pembele basically took it off Ballard's header.
01:43 So yeah, I think a lot of people...
01:45 Sorry, I'm walking up a hill here, which is quite challenging.
01:48 Well, I'm coming downhill, so hopefully we'll get some second wind.
01:51 But yeah, great question, totally agree.
01:53 Got another one on Job in the midfield three.
01:57 Is it time to rotate a bit? Is the current blend working?
02:00 I'm inclined to agree that I think physically, I don't think Solinda are quite there.
02:05 I think they're losing too many drills and too many games.
02:08 That was definitely the case tonight.
02:10 I thought Huddersfield were a lot snappier, a lot more physical, and they probably won that battle.
02:16 I actually thought Job stood up to that fairly well at times.
02:19 He made some good challenges.
02:21 He cleared one off the line, which was a really good intervention.
02:23 So I'm inclined to think that tonight, I'm not really sure he was the problem.
02:26 I actually thought he performed fairly strongly.
02:29 But I do think there's a question there about the blend.
02:32 Is Chris Rigg the answer? Well, we know he's got that tenacity, but he's so young.
02:36 You can't really be depending on him every game.
02:38 But is it time for him to get a go? Possibly.
02:40 The other one obviously coming into the equation is Callum Stiles.
02:43 Is he ready to come into the side and impact it?
02:46 We know he trained yesterday, so he'll be there soon.
02:49 Could he be the answer? Well, hopefully he can add something to it.
02:53 What else have we got?
02:54 Someone says, "Why are we so narrow?"
02:57 Yeah, another interesting question.
02:59 I think that it's something we spoke to Bale about.
03:02 Bale felt Sunderland were too open and especially away from home.
03:05 So I think he's fairly unapologetic in saying that out of possession,
03:09 a big part of what he's trying to do is tighten Sunderland up.
03:12 And that means being a lot more narrow.
03:14 He always says he doesn't want teams to play in the middle of us.
03:17 In possession, I'm not really sure you can say that we're so narrow.
03:21 I think in possession, there is quite a bit of width.
03:24 Tonight, that wasn't really the case because obviously the idea, it seemed,
03:29 was to sort of rotate Bayern Mönchengladbach.
03:31 So that Mönchengladbach, who we know, likes to drive and field off the right.
03:35 Could have that space to operate in, but let's be honest, it didn't work, did it?
03:38 It was a really, really disappointing performance.
03:42 So we'll have to wait and see how that one develops moving forward
03:46 because I think it needs a rethink.
03:47 Losing Roberts is a big miss because Sunderland with Roberts and Clark
03:51 are a completely different proposition and we actually saw that in the second half.
03:55 So I think that's a big thing for Bale going forward.
03:57 And the last question I've got written down here is,
03:59 what's actually our style?
04:01 I think that's the big question, isn't it?
04:03 What is the style that Sunderland is trying to play at the moment?
04:06 It seems to me that Bale wants to tighten them up, especially away from home.
04:09 He wants to get almost another midfielder in there to make Sunderland less open
04:13 and he seems to want there to be more space for players like Clark to operate in.
04:18 So it's almost as if we're trying to work to a bit more of a counter-attacking style
04:23 to try and tighten up and also create more space for the wide players.
04:27 But at the moment, I don't think you can say that Sunderland are creating enough, really.
04:32 I have to say that apart from Hulme's late effort, they created so little tonight
04:40 and it's really, really concerning actually because I think there have been some signs of defensive improvements.
04:45 It's very rare that Patson's having to make loads and loads of saves.
04:49 But when you create so little, you're always at risk.
04:53 So I can understand why Bale was frustrated with said players, but I think we have to be honest as well,
04:58 that was a really, really, really poor performance and it leaves Sunderland with a lot of work to do.
05:03 So, yeah, a bit concerned coming away from that one, to be honest.
05:07 I think at the moment, Sunderland are having flashes in games where they look really strong,
05:12 they look like they can be a play-off side, but we haven't really seen them produce anything close
05:16 to a complete 90-minute performance for a long, long time, really.
05:21 And that's a huge worry.
05:24 A big couple of games coming up because the fixture list gets significantly more difficult towards the end of the season.
05:29 So, yeah, a lot of questions. I think after that one, a lot of work to be done.
05:33 But thanks very much for sending your questions in.
05:35 They were really good this week, loads of interesting topics and really, really good talking points, I think.
05:39 So, yeah, see you again on Saturday and fingers crossed we're talking about a much more better,
05:44 dangerous performance and three points in the bag as well.
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