Phil Smith reacts as Sunderland defeat Derby County at Pride Park

Transcript

00:00Hi there, Phil here at Pride Park. I don't really know where to start with that to be

00:05honest. Sunderland have just about beaten Derby Camp 1-0 thanks to an excellent goal

00:09from Eliza Mienda and I'm going to start by talking about what a player this lad has turned

00:12into for Sunderland. Threat throughout the first half again, so dangerous through the

00:16middle of the pitch, took his goal so well on his weaker foot and ultimately that was

00:19the difference between the two teams. I thought Sunderland did well in the first half without

00:23being dominant, without being in their free-flowing best. They clearly, despite playing a 4-4-2,

00:27didn't want to overcommit. We knew that Derby's threat was going to be set pieces, firing

00:31balls into the box. Because of their injuries, Derby started in the back three and I think

00:35that made it really difficult for them to get up the pitch. So although Sunderland weren't

00:38exactly sparkling, playing their most dynamic, fluid football, I think they were comfortable

00:42that the ball was a long way from their own goal and they always felt they were going

00:44to get chances. The first half was so far so good really, second half a completely different

00:49game. It'll definitely be concerning for Sunderland that Derby were so dominant in the second

00:53half. I'm going to give some credit to Derby and Paul Warne because he went much more aggressively,

00:56changed it, he went to four at the back. That allowed him to get his two wingers up

00:59the pitch and that actually meant they could get into deep areas to cross. What happened

01:03then was they started getting balls into the box, they started getting fair plays, loads

01:07of corners. That's the game we knew Derby wanted to play and they made it really difficult

01:11for Sunderland. I thought Sunderland were too panicked, trying to rush the pass too

01:14much and played themselves into a bit of trouble. So there's definitely something to think about

01:18there moving forward. And then an absolutely bizarre passage of play where Joe Bellingham

01:22plays the ball forward for Isidore and Lefebvre. Lefebvre takes the first touch, Isidore then

01:27runs in and crashes it off the other side of the bar. The referee gives the goal, the

01:33linesman on Isidore's side actually gives the goal. It's the official on the near side

01:38who wasn't in line with the play who says something to the referee whether it's offside

01:43or handball, we're not sure what, but the goal was incorrectly ruled out. A staggering

01:47decision really. Thankfully it didn't cost Sunderland. Actually, after a really poor

01:5120-25 minutes at the start of the second half, I actually thought they really settled and

01:55they managed the game fairly well in the last 10-15 minutes. A pretty dramatic game ended

02:00with Derby actually finishing with 10 men because Dejean Brown, who missed a big chance

02:04when he came on, finished and actually got an injury and Derby made all their subs. That

02:07definitely helped Sunderland stay out seven minutes ahead of time. Some good stuff, some

02:10not so good stuff, but hey, three incredibly important points on the road, we'll take that.

02:14In terms of my Sunderland player of the match, I thought Daniel was excellent again in centre

02:17midfield, but I'm going to give it to Anthony Patterson for some big second-half saves,

02:21including one brilliant punch towards the end, when a really dangerous cross went into

02:25the box. Not very often this season that Sunderland have really needed the goalkeeper to stand

02:28the tall, but I thought he did that tonight. I'll be back with On The Whistle tomorrow.

02:31Any questions, fire them over to me on Blue Sky or in the comments below. Thanks for watching.