Who will start up front for Sunderland v Coventry City?

Sunderland Echo

Phil Smith and Jason Jones discuss who Regis Le Bris will start up front during the first-leg of Sunderland's Championship play-off clash against Coventry City on the latest episode of the Roar Podcast.

Transcript

00:00I suppose one of the main ones is who he starts at the point of attack.

00:04Obviously, Wilson Isidore without a goal in 12, 13 matches now

00:08and not necessarily looking as sharp as we've seen him in a Sunderland shirt.

00:12Eliza Mayenda, by contrast, is on a very positive trajectory.

00:15He looks to have strengthened as the season has gone on.

00:18But as you sort of mentioned there, if Sunderland are playing on the break,

00:22perhaps Le Brice might feel as if Isidore in that pace

00:25and the way that he likes to play on the shoulder

00:27could potentially be more suited to that sort of opposition.

00:31Yeah, it's one that I've been back and forward with really over the last couple of weeks.

00:35I think it would be unbelievably harsh not to pick Eliza Mayenda

00:39because I think he's not just the form striker at the club,

00:42but he's arguably the form attacking player probably over the last three or four weeks.

00:47And I don't think Isidore of Lear has been anywhere near the level

00:50that he was at earlier in the season.

00:51I don't think that's harsh.

00:53I think that's a fairly fair comment on his performance level.

00:55However, the closer the game gets tomorrow,

00:59the more I think that Isidore might start,

01:01for exactly the reasons that you've just said there,

01:03that when I think about how this game might look

01:05and how I think Sunderland will approach it,

01:07I think they're going to be quite happy for Coventry to have a lot of the ball

01:10as long as it's not too close to their box.

01:13And I think they'll try and play a lot of early balls,

01:15whether it's Le Fay on the left, Roberts on the right,

01:18Dan Neal from deep.

01:20I think they're going to try and sort of spring the striker free over the top

01:23and probably the player who is best to do that is Isidore

01:26because of that pace.

01:28I do kind of think and hope that maybe Isidore will be a bit of a big game player.

01:32I think he'll thrive on the pressure of the playoffs

01:35and the sort of the big game feeling.

01:39So it's an interesting one.

01:40I think it would honestly be so,

01:41so harsh on Meander if he doesn't start,

01:43but I do have a sneaking suspicion that it might be Isidore

01:45and for tactical reasons, I can understand why.

01:48But there's no doubt Meander has an absolutely massive part of play

01:51across these two legs.

01:53You know, very possible that in the last stages of both games,

01:56both of them are playing together.

01:58We saw Le Brice do that against Sheffield United, against Burnley.

02:01So, yeah, really interesting to see how that pans out.

02:04But the closer we get, the more I wonder if it might well be Isidore.

02:07So, yeah, really interesting to see how that pans out.

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