Phil reports from Hull City and takes questions from Sunderland fans
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00:00Evening everyone, welcome to the latest edition of On The Whistle.
00:14Circumstances mean I'm going to have to walk and talk, so hopefully this comes across alright.
00:18I'm aware it's a bit windy, so I'm trying to speak as loud as I possibly can, so hopefully
00:22you'll be able to pick me up alright.
00:25Terrific wind for Sunderland at Hull City, really good away performance, you know we
00:28spoke at Wofford and Plymouth about maybe some naivety in their performances, picked
00:33off a little bit, gave up more chances than we used to see in them this season.
00:37Today was a really strong return to form, it was a strange game in that I think Hull
00:41surprised Sunderland, Labreece admitted that to me in his post-match press conference,
00:45he said that he expected Hull to dominate possession, and that's actually not what happened,
00:50Hull sat fairly deep, they looked to play on the counter attack, and Sunderland the
00:53big problem really was that they had to try and get players into the box to create opportunities
00:59to break Hull down, but being wary that if they over-committed they would give Hull a
01:02lot of chances to break.
01:04Hull sort of sat quite deep, they packed a penalty area which meant all the inspiration
01:08for Sunderland had to come from the wide areas, and to be fair I think Roberts and Mundell,
01:12they came up against some strong opponents, I think especially Louis Coylet right back
01:15against Mundell was terrific, and maybe Sunderland's two wingers just weren't quite at their best.
01:20The second half had just completely changed, it was a lot more what we expected from Hull,
01:24they dominated possession, they looked a real threat, and actually it's kind of ironic that
01:28in Sunderland's worst spell of the game, they actually scored their goal, Dan Neal with
01:32a brilliant tackle, and then Wilson Isidore doing the rest with it, I mean it's an amazing
01:36goal.
01:37A strange one in that Hull were complaining because they were saying that the referee
01:40blocked their short corner essentially, he was in the wrong position, I can understand
01:44that and it actually happened a few times to Sunderland, twice Dan Neal, the referee
01:47was in his way.
01:49Having said that, it's really good from Dan Neal and Isidore, it's not as if it's an easy
01:52finish, he's got a run, probably 70 yards, lovely little flick to get away from the defender
01:57and then a little chip finish, so that was really promising.
02:00I think what was really great from a Sunderland perspective was after that, there was still
02:03over half an hour of the game left, and Sunderland barely conceded a chance.
02:07I can't remember Paterson making a save, and I think speaking to Lebris there, he was saying
02:11that's the most exciting thing for him, because it shows his team are developing, it shows
02:16that they should be playing with more maturity, they're learning from their experiences and
02:19they're getting better.
02:20And I think that's what's really exciting, you still feel like there's more to come from
02:23this team.
02:24So, I'm afraid I've had to write your questions on my hand, so I'm hoping that this will spark
02:32some inspiration.
02:33First and foremost, Mike Smith, thanks for your question, he asked about the injury situation
02:37for Luton, will there be any players back?
02:39I suspect not.
02:42I think that Ballard and Mienda will be close for that game, Lebris' view is that they might
02:47be back for Wednesday, but they'll definitely be back for Saturday.
02:50To be honest, I would be surprised if they risked either of them away at Luton.
02:53I don't think it's worth the risk.
02:55I think they'll take the view of both of them, that there's players performing well in their
02:57positions and they can just sort of, they can let them recover properly, maybe use them
03:02against Saturday, and then you've got a free week where they can really step up their recovery.
03:07So yeah, there's a chance Ballard and Mienda could be back on the bench, but I wouldn't
03:10expect anything more than that, and to be honest, I would be surprised if they make
03:13it.
03:14The next question is from Ethan, thanks Ethan, who asks about whether Sunderland will financially
03:20be able to afford Ballard and the deals for Wilson Isidor and Chris Mepham next summer.
03:25Mepham, you know, absolutely outstanding today.
03:28I think Hull probably had a case when Mepham looked like he handled the ball, Puerta was
03:33about to run through on goal and the referee didn't give it, and Sunderland were probably
03:36lucky to get away with that one.
03:37I think Hull had a much more legitimate complaint about that than they did the Sunderland goal.
03:42Having said that, that was Mepham's one error in what I thought was a quite outstanding
03:46performance.
03:47Obviously, Sunderland, man for man mark, and with the pace that Hull have, you're putting
03:52a huge amount of pressure on your defenders and they have to be excellent, and I thought
03:55Mepham's position and his awareness was top draw.
03:59Mepham's situation is that he's out of contract at Bournemouth next summer, but they do have
04:03an option to extend for one year, so I highly doubt he'll be a free agent, because if you
04:07think about it from Bournemouth's perspective, you know, Mepham's going to be a player who,
04:11especially if he keeps performing like he does for Sunderland, you know, they're going
04:13to want to get a return on him and they're going to know that there's a chance to get
04:17a return on him.
04:18So I would be surprised if they didn't trigger that extension, and then obviously you're
04:21looking at paying a fee.
04:22However, even then he would still only have one year on it.
04:25So I would like to think that Sunderland will be in contention if that's the case, and hopefully
04:29Mepham is enjoying life at Sunderland and wants to stay.
04:34I definitely think it's something that Sunderland financially could compete for, the caveat
04:37to that being that with the level of his performance at the moment, you know, teams with parachute
04:42payments, big budgets, maybe even teams at the bottom of the Premier League, I think
04:45will be alert to his performances and would be interested.
04:48So I think that would potentially be the harder of the two to do.
04:51Isidore's slightly different because there's an option to buy, so there is a pre-arranged
04:56fee.
04:57I think Isidore has made clear that he's, although it's an initial loan, he's very much
05:00come here to become a Sunderland player for the long term.
05:03So I think that Sunderland would be able to do that deal.
05:06I think Isidore would want to stay if he keeps on this form, Sunderland are definitely going
05:09to do it.
05:10So I can see that happening.
05:11As I've mentioned in a previous video as well, there is some kind of obligation whereby performance
05:16related, not sure whether it's promotion or what, but Sunderland do actually have to buy
05:20him if he meets certain criteria.
05:22So that's one to watch as well.
05:23So yeah, I would expect Sunderland to be in the mix of both of them, to be honest.
05:26But at this stage, I would say that Meppen's the more difficult one because I think there's
05:29a good chance that other teams will come into that equation if he keeps playing as well
05:32as he does.
05:33Adam, thanks Adam for your question.
05:36He asked about whether Ballard gets in the team with Meppen playing so well.
05:39I think it gives Sunderland the luxury of giving Ballard a lot of time to recover.
05:43This ankle injury that he sort of came off the bench with but didn't seem to be able
05:46to fully get over.
05:47I think Sunderland are in a position where they can just say, look, there's no rush for
05:50you at the moment.
05:51My honest answer to this question is right now Ballard doesn't get in the team because
05:540-9 and Meppen are doing brilliantly.
05:55I don't think you can unsettle it.
05:57The one thing I would say is I think at some point the opportunity will be open.
06:01We've seen it before.
06:02Injury, suspension.
06:03There'll be a time when Ballard comes back into the team.
06:05Again, Trey Hulme nearly took a yellow card late on.
06:08He would have been suspended for one game.
06:09And that scenario, I think Ballard comes in and Sunderland go to back three with 0-9 on
06:13the right of it.
06:14So yeah, to be honest, Adam, I think Meppen is now sort of first choice along 0-9 for
06:18the time being.
06:19But experience tells me that he'll get an opportunity to come back in pretty soon.
06:23Yeah, and a few of you asked, I put this all into one because there's lots of similar questions
06:28asking about whether I think that Sunderland will use the squad more in the days ahead
06:32and whether I think there'll be much rotation for Luton.
06:34I don't think there'll be a huge amount, to be honest.
06:36I think that what we're seeing from Lebris is that he really values keeping the squad
06:39consistent, keeping the team consistent.
06:42He feels that the chemistry of the team is really important and that making significant
06:45changes potentially upsets that.
06:47So the only one that you could potentially see is Alan Brown coming in.
06:50I think a lot of people have mentioned that.
06:51I think at some point this week I could see Brown coming in to give Chris Rigg a rest.
06:55But to be honest, after a good win and a good performance and knowing how Lebris operates,
06:59I think he'll stay the same again at Luton.
07:01And if he has to change it from the bench, then at Oxford he'll do that.
07:04So there we go, that's my sort of verdict on the game.
07:07Thanks all for your questions.
07:08Thanks for watching.
07:09Hopefully the win factor's not too high and I'll see you again in midweek.