Aji Alese injury update and reaction post-Stoke City as James and Jason answer transfer questions
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00:00Hello, welcome to the Stadium Alight, my name's James Copley, this is Jason Jones, we're from
00:13the Sun Lanego. We're going to be doing your On The Whistle video after the Stoke City
00:17loss in the FA Cup. We apologise that there's no Phil, but he is in Manchester at the moment
00:22on his stag do, so he can be excused. We hope you enjoy that, Phil.
00:26In any case, what questions have we got?
00:28First of all, I think it's fair to say that Phil chose a good week to be on his stag
00:32do. He did.
00:33Anyway, Ethan is asking, how many additions and in what areas do you think you need after
00:38that? Squad not deep enough given the injuries we have, in my opinion.
00:42It's a tricky question, isn't it? I think Watson and Mundler are injured on the wing
00:48aren't they, and they're going to be another two, three, maybe four weeks, Lebris said
00:52in his last press conference, so perhaps a little bit of depth there.
00:55Aushish has done okay, you'd think would be relatively well stocked in the middle now.
00:59You know, Aji Alesi is the big elephant in the room, isn't he? Obviously, he was stretched
01:03off, it doesn't look too good. Lebris hinted that the injury is probably going to be serious,
01:07but we'll know more about that over the next couple of days. So, full-back you would say,
01:12obviously Niall Huggins isn't going to be around for a long time.
01:14Leo Hyaldah had a decent game against Stoke City, but you know, long-term in the championship
01:20at left-back, all nine can play there, but then if Hulme goes down, I think full-back
01:24for me is one that we're really struggling. What do you think?
01:27Yeah, I would echo that. I think the obvious one is a little bit of defensive cover in
01:32wide areas. I think as well, a striker probably wouldn't go amiss. I think it's fair to say.
01:39Obviously, Wilson Isidor has done very well this season. Beyond that, and there are a
01:45couple of questions here that we'll get onto, Aaron Connelly started today, he struggled
01:49and has a need to really get himself up to pace. I think it's fair to say over the course
01:52of his Sunderland career. Beyond that, you're looking at Nazari Rousin, obviously talk about
01:57him. He came on on the left today, didn't he? He did. He was playing like a left-wing
02:00back role, really, which you sort of have always wondered with Rousin where he's actually
02:06more comfortable, because when he first came in, there was a lot of talk about him being
02:09that centre striker, but he's operated quite often on the left for Sunderland, and for
02:13my money, and I know he hasn't necessarily had a great deal of an opportunity to prove
02:17himself. He's always looked a little bit better out on the left as well, I think it's fair to say.
02:20It's a good point you make about Connelly as well, because he's obviously played the
02:23majority of extra time today as well. Did he play the whole thing? I can't quite remember,
02:27did he get subbed off?
02:28I think he did.
02:29He played the whole thing, didn't he? But as a centre striker in a 4-3-3, I don't think
02:33he's very effective at all. I don't necessarily think that's his fault, whether he needs to
02:37play off somebody in a 4-2. I would be interested to see him play the Maender role alongside
02:42Wilson Isidor, whether that's going to happen, because obviously Maender and Isidor have
02:45that sort of connection. But I just think for a player of Connelly's stature, talented
02:49although he is, to play in a 4-3-3, I think it's difficult for him.
02:53Yeah, I fully agree with that. And actually, I'm just going to link this into Mike Smith's
02:56question as well, because he's asking, will we pull in another striker? Obviously, Ahmed
03:02Abdelahi's near in fitness, could that potentially be something that affects Sunderland's thinking
03:06this month?
03:07Possibly. I think with Abdelahi's coming back off such a long-term injury, he's so inexperienced
03:12in the Championship, it will be good to have him back for selection, but you just don't
03:15know, do you? You don't know if you can hang your hat on him, you don't know if he's going
03:18to be an option, you don't know how long it's going to take him to acclimatise to English
03:22football. So, it's the great unknown, isn't it? It's a massive boost if he turns out to
03:26be decent and contributes to what's up at the end of the season, but just looking at
03:30him, he's the same sort of profile in terms of age that Maender was, wasn't he? It took
03:34Maender a little while, obviously Maender had to go out on loan at Hibbs, didn't work
03:37from there, then he's come back, so you just don't know how long it's going to take.
03:41I think we've said on the Raw podcast, and I think Phil's mentioned it on the On The
03:45Whistle videos as well, is that good teams have a lot of goals and a lot of striking
03:49options, don't we? And we have a couple of good striking options at the moment, but not
03:53necessarily anything you'd associate with promotion, even though I think Sunder are
03:58a really, really good team, I do think we need another five, ten goals to get over the line.
04:03Yeah, again, I would echo that. I think that there is a lot of weight at the moment being
04:08put on Isidor's shoulders, and I think that we saw during that tricky run that he had.
04:13Seven games.
04:14Yeah, exactly. As soon as he stops providing those goals, we saw today, I think Maender
04:21is a wonderful player, and I think he's got an immense amount of Raw potential, but his
04:25finishing isn't always the most reliable or the most consistent. Connolly, like you said,
04:29I think he struggles when he's up there on his own, he's just not that sort of player
04:34for my money.
04:35And with Isidor as well, if he picks up an injury, then that's Sunder in real trouble.
04:39Yeah, it really is. I still think that a striker has to be a priority, and I'd like to think
04:45it probably will be.
04:46I think so.
04:47Going forward. Again, another question about Connolly, where does he fit in? Do you still
04:51think that he has a role in this squad?
04:54I like Connolly, I like how open he's been about his struggles and stuff, but to me,
04:58at the moment, and I hope he can change this, it just feels like a little bit of a Bradley
05:02Dack signing, and I don't mean in terms of injuries, he's sort of fitting that profile
05:06at the moment. They're not exactly the same player, they're not exactly the same person,
05:10but it just seems to be like that one year, we'll take a punt, see if he's any good, and
05:15if he isn't, it's fine, it's only a one-year contract, and we can sort of shake hands at
05:19the end of it. It sort of feels like that to me. At the moment, hopefully he can change
05:24that, but yeah, again, playing up front on a 4-3-3, I just don't think it suits him at
05:30all.
05:31I would echo that, and also just a quick word as well on Trio Ogunsui, who made his debut
05:35today, obviously didn't have much of an opportunity to prove himself, so he came on quite late,
05:39and it was a difficult moment in the match, but good to see him come on.
05:42No, really, really good. Trio Ogunsui obviously making his first ever sonhood appearance as
05:48well. Harrison Jones started the game, it wasn't his first sonhood appearance, but it
05:51was his first start. He played against Preston in the Carabao Cup, two exciting prospects,
05:55it'll be interesting to see what happens to them in terms of loan moves and stuff like
05:59that going forward. Ogunsui, you wouldn't expect him to go, I think he'll probably remain
06:03playing for the U21s. Harrison Jones, who knows, he might go out with the National League,
06:08but it's a great moment for both players, and at the end of their career, if nothing
06:14else, they can say that they've played for Sunderland, and I think it's the boyhood club
06:18of both players actually, at the Stadium, and I mean, what would we give to have said
06:23that? Hopefully these lads are going to go on and have fantastic careers, but they've
06:27got that moment to build on now, I think that's really good.
06:30And just a quick note as well, that start in midfield three, Dan Neal, Chris Raig, Harrison
06:35Jones, all Sunderland Academy graduates, sort of almost like two generations if you like,
06:41because Neal's come through, and I know it feels like Raig is more along, he's actually
06:44younger than Jones, so it's a weird one, but really nice thing to see with those three
06:47all getting on.
06:48I think with Jones as well, he actually played his part in Sunderland's equalising goal,
06:52he sort of gets a little header, and then the ball comes to Auschwitz, doesn't it, and
06:56he sends it in for Leksic to get the equaliser, it's a shame it didn't result in a Sunderland
07:01win in the end, we probably all could have done without extra time to be honest, but
07:05here we are at the Stadium of Light.
07:07Yeah, I mean, I've only just regained some of the feeling in my toes.
07:11Yeah, I'm absolutely freezing to be honest.
07:13A couple more, one being from AJJ, he's asking about Jones getting a start, and asking why
07:19he was opted for on that starting XI ahead of Sam Ed, who also came on to make a debut.
07:24Yeah, I think that's an interesting question, I think obviously Jones in terms of his fitness
07:28is probably further ahead than Sam Ed, they probably didn't want to risk him from the
07:32start, although he ended up playing quite a bit of football anyway because of the extra
07:37time.
07:38I actually really liked Sam Ed when I saw him, he didn't do anything too flashy, he
07:41kept things nice and tidy, I was really impressed by his athleticism, I was impressed by his
07:46stamina as well, his desire to make those key sprints, I was really, really impressed
07:51with him, he was always available on the ball as well.
07:54I think Jones has probably gotten the nod because of that fitness question, and partly
07:58just as a reward for his hard work, he's been captain in the U21s for a long time now, working
08:03very hard, he's been with the senior group, he's been on the bench quite a few times,
08:06so I think it just sort of made sense in that regard.
08:10Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, and I think as well, there's got to be a progression for
08:16these players, and like you say we've been, Harrison Jones and Trailing City to be fair,
08:21they're two players that we've been harping on about for a long time, because we watch
08:23a lot of the U21s, and those two in particular, and there are a lot of good players at that
08:27level, but those two consistently stand out, and I think that in a game like today, which
08:32maybe if we're being completely honest wasn't a huge priority for Sunderland, why not give
08:37him the opportunity to prove himself, and I actually thought that he equipped himself
08:40quite well, and I think that moving forward there's no reason why he can't stake a claim
08:44to earn more first team wins.
08:46Yeah, you'd like to hope so, and you'd like to think so, and you know, as you say, the
08:50recent history at Sunderland suggests that this is exactly the place to do that.
08:53Yeah, and just a quick one to wrap up as well from Andrew Mack, who is asking, Dennis Serkin,
08:59was he injured, or was he just left out, this is something you actually asked in the press
09:02conference.
09:03Yeah, I asked Libri about Patrick Roberts, Dennis Serkin and Anthony Patterson, the three
09:06players that dropped out of the squad entirely, and he said they were absolutely fine, and
09:11it just, to me, sounds like a case of they were the ones that were rested.
09:14He also mentioned Job and Wilson Isidore and Mepham as well, obviously they were on the
09:18bench, but he didn't want to bring them on essentially, was the line from it really,
09:26he wanted to give them a good rest, obviously all eyes to Burnley now, but yeah, I think
09:32I'm not sure we'll remember this game against Stoke in the FA Cup for that long really,
09:36will we?
09:37No, it's one that if I'm being completely honest, I kind of want to forget as soon as
09:40possible, and also on that note, I want to get off this concourse as soon as possible
09:44because it is bolting.
09:46Right, Sunderland Echo for all your latest content, we will see you soon.