Phil Smith discusses the big talking points from Sunderland's defeat to Swansea City in his weekly Q&A with readers
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00:00Ian, he says, feels like we are too lax and our attacking play is becoming a major concern, lack of speed and ideas and looks lazy at times.
00:07Missing job a lot in my opinion and Lafayette and Meander are the only threats at the moment.
00:11How big a concern do you think it is and how does LaBreeze view it and how do you think it can be fixed?
00:16So thanks Ian, great question. I think the attacking play is something that we're all talking about at the moment.
00:19Just have a sip of my coffee and then we'll get into it.
00:24I think, yeah, as I mentioned at the start, it's a big concern for me.
00:28We did have a good chat with LaBreeze about this after the game and he sort of said he was a little bit concerned
00:34and that he kind of identified that he does think that Sonnen's build-up play isn't right for whatever reason at the moment.
00:39So in terms of the playing out from the back, beating the opposition press, getting yourself into a position where the likes of Riggs, Robert, Robert Watson can break.
00:47He obviously feels that isn't quite right. So that's a big, I think, point on the training ground for him moving forward, something that needs correcting.
00:54The other point he made was that he has disrupted the attacking patterns on the pitch because of the rotation.
01:01So the point he made yesterday was Trey Hulme moving over to the left back. That obviously disrupts the triangle on the right-hand side.
01:07Chris Rigg played as the left-sided eight yesterday rather than the right-sided eight, which he usually plays.
01:11So he was moved away from Roberts and obviously Hulme, Roberts and Rigg have that little pattern going.
01:16And Joe obviously has played a lot with whoever the left-winger is in the team, whether that's Watson, Mundell or even Lafay really.
01:23So I think he feels that when he puts his more normal, inverted commas, team out in terms of, you know,
01:29probably certainly Hulme and Roberts down the right-hand side, probably Rigg when Joe comes back in on the left-hand side to link up with whoever's playing there.
01:36I think his feeling is that you'll see things click a little bit more and there'll be a bit more familiarity and a bit more fluency.
01:43I can totally understand that, but I think it's definitely a concern that Sunderland have gone quite a few games without creating that many chances.
01:49And I do think that, you know, it's the thing with Strider is obviously it is a concern that he still hasn't scored in nine games.
01:56And personally, I think that he looked a little bit frustrated yesterday and not at his most threatening.
02:01Now, the briefs actually completely disagreed with that after the game.
02:03He said that actually he felt that there was a lot of Wilson's game that he really liked, the attempts to run him behind.
02:08He felt he was doing a lot of the right things. It just didn't come off for him yesterday, which I thought was an interesting view.
02:13He really did back him. And he made it very clear that, you know, with Strikers, he feels that it can just be one little thing that can change things around and get back on the goal trail.
02:22So I think he's probably a little bit less concerned than a lot of us are about Isidou's form.
02:26I think Meander is making a real run for that Strikers spot in the playoffs.
02:29But the briefs kind of hinting afterwards that he likes Meander's versatility.
02:32And I think kind of hinting that he'll stick with Isidou.
02:36So let's see if Isidou can get a goal over the Easter weekend.
02:39Hopefully that can just click things back into gear.
02:41So I agree with you, Ian. I don't think the attacking play is where it needs to be.
02:44But hopefully I've given you a little bit of insight as to why Labriece thinks that is and why he thinks it'll be easily fixed.
02:50How reassured you are by that, I don't know.
02:53Yeah, it's definitely something that's on the need to improve at the moment.
02:56And as you say, I think we do feel a little bit dependent on Lafayette at the moment to make some magic happen.
03:00And that's not where you want to be.
03:02But let's hope that as a few more familiar faces come back into the side, that things will improve.
03:07I guess time will tell.
03:08So Ian.
03:09So Ian.