- 6 months ago
Sunderland transfer and injury latest as Régis Le Bris signs new deal
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00:00hello welcome to the raw podcast brought to you by the sun and echo my name is jason jones
00:23joined by james copy and phil smith as always feels like uh quite a while since we've done
00:28one of these lads it's uh it's been a fair few weeks there's been loads of stuff happening on
00:32your side i think it's fair to see um plenty to get through today but we'll start phil with the
00:38news of regis the bris's contract extension that was announced on what day we on today tuesday
00:44lost off of the days already so that was announced on monday night um i mean do you want to just talk
00:49us through this one what's what's the thinking from the club and i mean it feels like a real
00:53show of faith in interviews doesn't it yeah i think so i mean i think the first thing is it's
00:58a very basic level of man rewarded for doing excellent job i think um and rightly so because
01:04i think not just the easy to look at the fact that it ended in promotion but i think the way
01:09the breeze sort of got that team together and organized them and the way he managed it through
01:14the ups and downs of the seasons was so impressive and i think there's probably a couple of aspects
01:18to this um one is that it potentially wards off any interest that might emerge early in the season
01:26if someone hit the ground running which obviously we hope that they will you know and i'm sure people
01:29will have seen the keep reporting that there'd been some premier league interest in the breeze
01:33earlier in the summer we don't know the extent of that but i think there's a savviness here to
01:37potentially ward that off and the other side of this is i think it sends a wrong really strong
01:41signal if it does take someone a little bit of time to get going this season that someone is
01:46squarely behind the breeze and i think this is something that i guess kind of preempts any
01:51any speculation or discussion in the opening weeks of the season so i think it's a it's a reward but i
01:56think it's also about um clarity i think this is our this is our project this is what we're doing
02:02this is the man who we want as our head coach and that's not going to change in the in the near
02:06future so i think it's just a reflection of a club that we're slowly getting used to that kind of
02:11has its house in order really and is is proactive with things rather than kind of waiting until
02:16it desperately needs addressing i mean phil sort of alluded to it there james but
02:22with labris it's not just being the on field stuff has it it feels as if he is very much part of a
02:28broader culture of the club at the moment obviously all of the recruitment work that we talk about all
02:33the wonderful work that christian speakman's doing florenko selfie coming in as well and it feels as if
02:38labris is very much folded into that as well as being obviously the head coach the tactical side of
02:43the sort of broader stuff that the club is trying to represent it feels as if he's very much uh
02:48emblematic i think the word i would use would be alignment he seems very aligned with sunderland's
02:54model its way of doing things obviously that model is really starting to bear fruit now but it's it's
02:58been controversial it's been criticized openly i think we all liked alex neil and tony mulberry while
03:05we were at sunderland didn't we but they were from an era and a generation maybe when things were done a
03:11little bit different when the manager had most if not all of the power when it came to recruitment
03:17scouting networks but it's become such a big industry football that it doesn't and can't
03:21really work like that obviously you need input from your head coach that's crucial to the to the
03:26whole operation but labris has come in he's really embraced the way the club's set up and there seems
03:31to be a level of trust developed between you know boardroom level and and coaching level as well
03:37and i think that is really really important and i'm not saying that to sort of denigrate anything
03:41that alex neil or tony mulberry did because i thought they were both excellent managers at
03:45sunderland in their own right but you never got that impression that they sort of saw eye to eye
03:51fully with with sunderland's board and decision makers and sometimes that could be a good thing look
03:56friction can can make a fire and it's good to have dissenting voices i'm sure labris disagrees on
04:02some things with recruiters and and whatnot and and that is healthy but it just feels like
04:08labris has embraced this sort of modern european football culture in a way and the way sunderland
04:14have wanted to rebuild the club and i think the most impressive impressive thing for me about labris
04:18has just been his his calm nature really i think phil would probably back that up he's just never
04:23looked flustered in any press conference no matter what's happening no matter how many injuries
04:27no matter how many games sunderland drew um or lots towards the end of the season he was he was
04:33always the same and just very pragmatic tactically i think as well it was horses for courses
04:39which i think really benefited sunderland he he sort of came into it with with no ego didn't he
04:45that famous first quote about not trying to emulate anybody who was just trying to do the best
04:49of a sunderland and mission accomplished really and i think i would like to see him given a
04:55you know a good fist at premier league survival i think the level of money sunderland is spending
05:01it does put a little bit of pressure on doesn't it that you need to get off to a good start sunderland
05:06have spent money to to try and you know not just stay up but compete long term as well that's that's
05:13very much the plan and you hope he can get off to a to a good start but i'd like to see sunderland
05:17sort of stick with him through the through the thin and the thick this season i think he's a he's a
05:21really good manager and a really good fit i mean it was mentioned there as well phil obviously this
05:27report from the keep that sunderland had fielded some interest in the bruce from an unnamed premier
05:31league club i mean obviously can't speculate too much on who that was don't know an awful lot of
05:35details about but it is sort of indicative of of how much of an asset the bruce is regarded as
05:41yeah i think so and i think it's it's one of those interesting ones where i imagine
05:46you know last summer we know sunderland we were looking at a lot of different managers
05:49and i imagine most clubs probably looking at the bruce going well he had one season of massive
05:54over performance and then a relegation and we're not quite sure what the true reflection of this
05:58guy is and fair play to sunderland in terms of they backed what they saw in that season of over
06:03performance and they reaped rewards that last season but you can guarantee now that teams will
06:08be looking at it going look he's had three seasons in senior management and two of them were outstanding
06:12you know one of them was a relegation after a lot of key players had been sold so
06:16you know there's absolutely no doubt about it that other clubs will be will be interested in
06:21regis but i i was asked about this earlier in the summer and you know obviously there's always a bit
06:26of a concern you know when when other clubs are interested but i think regis likes working here
06:32so much and is so settled in the area as long as that maintains i don't think there's too much to
06:36worry about and if anything i think the changes this summer have only strengthened this position not
06:41put more doubt on it you know i think the arrival of you know florenko selfie he was a pain to me
06:45when i spoke to him about this to suggest that you know they didn't have a major work relationship
06:49with lorion they worked in very different parts of the club but clearly someone he already knew
06:53someone whose work he admired you know you look at the recruitment labrisa's obviously had a massive
06:57part of playing that so yeah it's a sudden return of the premier league labrisa's future is a long way
07:04down on my list of worries if i'm completely honest should we uh should we discuss transfers
07:11because obviously we're still expecting a fair amount but there's also been a fair amount happened
07:15since since we last did a pod james i mean the big name and obviously the one that i think we kind of
07:21have to talk about first is granite jacques i think it's fair to say the last time we did a pod
07:25you know i can't even remember if the links had emerged at that point but certainly
07:29once they did emerge none of us were particularly sure that it was going to actually get over the
07:34line obviously sutherland have managed to complete a deal for him he made his debut at the weekend
07:38against real batiste in that friendly and i think the early signs are that he still very much looks
07:44like a player who is going to do a very good job in the premier league do you think it's fair so
07:48yeah he looks good he didn't really look like he sort of got out of first gear either he was very
07:53comfortable on the ball i think obviously you're going to need sort of athleticism around him as he as he does
07:58get that little bit older just owing to you know his legs he's played a lot of football over his
08:02career but i think a massive coup for sutherland to get that done i think his leadership and experience
08:07in the premier league is is going to be really really invaluable i mean swiss international captain
08:12i think he's played something daft like i think it's over 120 times for switzerland it's it's it's really
08:18silly you know he's won the bundesliga he's worked under some amazing managers captain darsenal his
08:24trajectory in arsenal as well i mean he was he was booed off the pitch at one point
08:28wasn't he and so i had that that real needle with arsenal fans before sort of bringing his
08:33career background so i think his his temperament his experience is is going to be key for sutherland
08:38obviously he's been looks like he's been given a captain's armband straight away it's probably
08:42a good decision and i think it's nice to see that suddenly recognize that premier league experience
08:49matters i think that's really important and it's it's refreshing and encouraging as well to see that
08:55the models maybe evolved because it's been a bit of a myth that sutherland don't sign any experienced
09:00players at all we do it's just not really being for a fee but sometimes you do have to pay to get
09:05that top level experience and top level players in and they've had to do that with jack but they've
09:09been prepared to do it and i think that that says a lot about how things are going to perhaps evolve a
09:14little bit and it's just a mad thing to say is that that granite jacker is is now at sutherland i mean
09:19it's not that long ago since we were you know getting excited about plays that we didn't know
09:24a lot about but we were wondering whether they'd be able to take the next step with us like george
09:28dobson and josh scow and no disrespect to those lads but we've we've come a long way in like five or
09:34six years it's um it's real pinch me stuff at the moment and i think this summer has been
09:38something we've never really experienced before in terms of the money spent we've we've been in the
09:43of course we have and we've we've concluded big transfers that's a more jean darren bent um but
09:49the time was being out the premier league these transfer windows seem to have just gone to another
09:52level and i think we're the eighth highest spenders in europe at the moment which is just like
09:58completely nuts we finished 16th in the championship two seasons ago and you know
10:03wondering where we went from michael beale and then an interim spell under mike dodds and
10:07and now we're here it's it's a bit bizarre but fun it's a bit ridiculous isn't it i am i sort of
10:15clocked it over the weekend because i wasn't working it but i was at the base match and i think it was
10:19pretty much a year to the day since i moved over to the echo and if you told me this time last year
10:25that i'd have been sat watching granite jacca and isco line up on opposite sides at the stadium
10:30i don't think i would have necessarily believed you um spare a thought for phil who
10:37had two allegations in his first two seasons covering the club which finally echo had to
10:43endure david moyes and you know everything else that came with it i'll tell you what it was worth
10:47it for isco though my god he's still got it didn't he he's the first um he's the first obsession
10:52opposition player to get an ovation from the sunland fans for quite a while actually i always think
10:56that's the ultimate uh the ultimate sign of a good player when the sunland fans give him a begrudge
11:01and applause when he goes off i was yeah he is absolutely absolutely class watching him in his
11:06jacket strut their stuff that was that was a lot of fun that was definitely the highlight of my
11:10pre-season so far yeah he's a bit special isn't he's a bit special um i mean the jacket signing
11:15phil obviously in terms of what he's going to bring to the squad huge force underling but is it also the
11:21sort of signing that you know almost acts as a statement of intent almost as a lure to other
11:26potential signings further down the line when they go well this is the sort of project they're building
11:29this is the level of ambition that they're exhibiting maybe that is somewhere that i wouldn't mind going to play
11:34yeah hopefully i think that maybe what you know if there are that next tier of player up who are
11:41looking at someone's interest and going i don't really fancy a relegation fight i'm currently
11:46playing for a you know a good european top tier team not quite sure i want to step down you would
11:51think it might just make them think a little bit twice wouldn't it about a the quality that
11:55they're going to have this year and and b their prospects um so hopefully that is a
12:00um a huge incentive for those players and as you say it just changes the kind of perception i think i
12:05think that can be really really powerful as well especially in the transfer market but
12:09i think it's clear that even though some of them have spent on um you know massive sums so far this
12:15summer this this transfer does stick out like a sore thumb in terms of the the fee they have spent
12:21for a player of zaka's age and james mentioned there about usually when they're bringing experiences on
12:25freeing ray nildo is like the archetypical sort of example of that isn't it so i do still think
12:30we are seeing the model evolving but this is you know this is very much in my eyes an exceptional
12:35transfer if you like where this opportunity has come up that i don't think anyone can quite believe
12:39it's happened but i don't think someone will be spending you know this level of money on 32 year
12:44olds very often in the future if ever again really i think there's just a recognition here that
12:48this guy could be transformative really and you know i think some of the touches and some of those
12:53little moments of class on on saturday just you did really kind of have to pinch yourself a little
12:58bit i think um from from where we've come in recent years so i'm not expecting someone to sign
13:03loads and loads of players like that um but as you mentioned hopefully if there are any players out
13:07there who are good european clubs who are wavering because they think well i kind of like the look of
13:11sun london it's the premier league but i don't really fancy you know a relegation fight you know
13:16hopefully it'll maybe just make them think you know what actually maybe maybe this is the place to be
13:20the other man who came in last week james uh robin roofs new goalkeeper dutch under 21 international
13:28um like xhaka made his debut at the weekend and for my money i thought he looked uh pretty impressive
13:34quite solid very confident with the ball at speed as well i mean what did you make of the early
13:39show this one yeah i think it was quite comforting really that the first real action that he had was
13:45to come and claim a high ball i think it was from an opening real betty's corner and he just
13:50made it look easy didn't it and i'm a big fan of anthony patterson i appreciate what he's done
13:54for sunland um i hope he can sort of improve and and challenge and and push for the number one spot
14:00i really believe he he can do that with the right coach and if he takes his game to the next level but
14:04although he's a fantastic shot stopper i think his command of his area and his aerial ability
14:10alongside his his footwork perhaps areas of his game which have been lacking and i think of all the
14:16goalkeepers at sunland have been linked with this season all the way back from you know to martin
14:21bulker who ended up going to saudi arabia when the three of us have looked into the stats and and
14:26watched various clips all of these goalkeepers have possessed attributes that anthony patterson's
14:33perhaps lacking in so i think credit to the club for for recognizing that and going out and get it
14:37and i think you know after the game he he spoke quite well i listened to his his interview with with
14:42nick barnes and he seems very sort of modest very calm so you know a really good age i think for a
14:49goalkeeper as well 22 he's got a lot of time to develop obviously we've spent a fair chunk of
14:53money on him but it's nothing ridiculous and i think there are a lot of positives to the transfer
14:58hopefully he can can grow with a club and you know 11.5 million pound for a really competent
15:04goalkeeper who gets really good reviews in in europe and stats were were very very impressive i think it
15:11could potentially be a little bit of a snip that a little bit of a steal to get a goalkeeper of
15:16of that caliber potentially for for such a my premier league standards like nominal fee i know
15:22we're all getting used to this sort of big spending and like 10 million in the championship you'd be
15:25going whoa but i think 10 million for a for a good goalkeeper in the premier league although untested
15:30i think could be pretty shrewd business for me i mean he is untested isn't he but like you say that
15:36the stats very much uh back up this image of a goalkeeper who perhaps addresses some of the
15:41issues that someone really feel they've had i mean his cross collection was something like that 98th 99th
15:46percentile across europe last season which is absolutely ridiculous when you break it down
15:51um obviously phil that we are expecting other signings and perhaps the next one through the door
15:57is going to be mark we chelsea striker um lawn expected from stanford bridge i mean again a player who
16:04isn't particularly proven in the premier league but certainly did the business in europe last
16:08season six goals and seven conference league matches and a player who is seemingly very highly
16:14thought of in in west london yeah of all of all the the transfers that sunland have done this some of
16:19this one is by far the hardest for us to assess because the level of information on him out there
16:24is is pretty small because that tells you that he hasn't had a huge senior career and and so it's
16:28really difficult to kind of make judgment you almost have to kind of back the club on this one
16:32i think it's interesting that they're signing a young low knee for me that is a little bit of
16:36a reflection it's obviously guy who's going to come in from chelsea and play games otherwise he'd
16:41be going out on loan elsewhere and not sunland but for me it's a little bit of a reflection that
16:45they believe in me underneath the door and that they expect us to to get opportunities and score
16:49goals this season um but yeah it's it's a really interesting one because it obviously puts a lot of
16:54pressure on this guy who hasn't got a huge track record and senior football to score goals
16:58watched a lot of footage of him i think from what i have seen fans will like him because he is
17:03he runs himself into the ground um he's a big physical presence he's a nightmare for defenders
17:09he's constantly chasing the goalkeeper down good in the air he'll definitely bring something different
17:14to isidore meander he definitely has more of a physical presence and he's definitely a bit more of
17:19a kind of a penalty box striker if you like um so really interested to see how he goes but it's one
17:23that you've kind of alluded to there we can't sit here and say like oh this is how it's going to go
17:28or this is what's going to happen because until realistically until he gets a bit of premier league
17:33football under his belt we just don't know um but certainly as you've alluded to if we're talking
17:38about pedigree in youth football this guy's this guy's got it massively so excited to see him play if
17:45you can translate what i've seen of him into a sunland chair he is going to be popular because he never
17:49stops um and he puts himself about and he looks like he's got a real passion for the game so
17:53i'm hopeful he could be a little bit of a fan favorite but you can't get away from the fact
17:56that it's a lot of pressure because promoted side needs they need goals and for sure it's a lot to
18:02ask them so really interesting to see how it pans out i was uh i was talking to a mate over the weekend
18:08who who's a sort of avid chelsea fan and he was very much sort of echoing what you said there that
18:13you know if it goes how it should go he could end up being a real fan favorite for sundell and
18:18the impression i got was that he was actually on a really decent trajectory last season picked up
18:23a bit of a knee injury it sort of stunted him a little bit and i think that ultimately that was
18:27you know there was maybe a situation last season where maybe nicholas jackson wasn't firing quite
18:33as as well as chelsea would have liked where there was maybe a bit of an opening for him especially
18:37given this form in europe and it was just bad timing in terms of him not being able to get the
18:40minutes um but again you know i think it's interesting that we see so many loan deals
18:46these days with option to buy clauses attached chelsea have seemingly sort of decided against
18:53that and i think that in itself is probably enough of an indicator that that they see something
18:57in him um but it is interesting isn't it james that you know obviously we're seeing all these
19:02expensive players come in all these sort of really highly sought after european talents that
19:07some of them are pursuing but in terms of up front you know maybe they will go now signing with
19:13this right but there is a situation where they start the season with the three center forward
19:16options being mayenda isidore and gui and i mean like phil says there it really is an endorsement
19:22of how highly they they must believe in in mayenda and isidore yeah i think it's just really
19:28smart to to loot to to use the the loan market to to this end i think you know chelsea have a lot
19:34of players a lot of them highly rated and it makes sense sutherland can offer a good crowd
19:39to grow in front of i think that's underestimated at sutherland that like as a young player if you
19:43come here and perform you're going to be loved sometimes it might also be a little bit tough but
19:47but that'll be really really good experience and if you get it right you can end you can end up like
19:51a mad and it can really springboard your your career it's a great place to to come and learn
19:55i think it's interesting as well actually jace you mentioned about you know the parameters of the
20:00deal that chelsea must rate him highly because reports have emerged today that you know there'll be a
20:05penalty if he doesn't play that much at sutherland if he's left on the bench too much he's got
20:09to hit a certain amount of games um otherwise suddenly might have to pay a little bit more
20:13money and that would suggest that they really rate him highly and they want to see him you know
20:18develop somewhere properly um he's played the club world cup as well so yeah i think it's just a
20:24sign that makes sense but as phil mentioned it's it's hard to judge because we just haven't seen
20:27loads of him he's still very young but i mean uh yeah as phil said by gosh that the pedigree is most
20:33certainly there um and i'm glad in a way i think that the club are looking at
20:39mayender and isidore with potential premier league um minutes because i completely agree with that i
20:46think mayender's the sort of player that's looked a bit raw at the start of last season whilst
20:50contributing really really well and maybe he's dropped off it you know in bits and pieces but
20:55then came up with such crucial moments and just has those raw abilities that i think he could really
21:01really suit the premier league you know given another couple of years developing and i think people
21:05forget as well about how good wilson isidore's finishes were some of those goals were just
21:12absolutely new to chris in the championship and when you can finish like that i think you've always
21:16got half a chance and i know he was sort of in and out the team come the end of the season but it was a
21:21long grueling season it was his first season in english football as well and the championship's very
21:25hard to acclimatize to and again like mayender he's just got those physical attributes where you just
21:31think he's got half a chance his intelligence as well the way he moves his pace i just think both
21:38of them have got tools to compete in the premier league if they can improve other bits of their area
21:43i would love to see wilson east door be able to maybe hold the ball up a little bit better um
21:48mayender as well if he could be you know a bit more involved in the build-up play but yeah i think
21:53going into the new season with those three as options i think is quite a positive place to be
21:58should the deal get over the line so we're now in a position where there's what just over three
22:05weeks or something left in in the transfer market i mean we are still expecting something to be active
22:09phil i mean where in particular would you like to see them strengthen are there any positions that you
22:15think they will be looking at strengthening yeah i mean i mean center back's the very obvious one
22:19isn't it where there's there's a real pressing need to get somebody in before the start of the season
22:24really have been super impressed we ended in sale at different times in pre-season i think
22:28he's clearly progressed a lot in a short space of time but i know there's there's interest in
22:33taking him on loan and naturally for someone a little bit similar now huggins actually naturally
22:38for someone who's been injured for so long there have been kind of peaks and troughs in pre-season
22:42and that's absolutely fine that's all part of the process but you know the premier league is such a
22:46demanding league and i just feel like he's a player who needs a season of regular football and and then a
22:51decision can be made so i have liked the look of him but i really do feel like something to strengthen
22:56in that position before the start of the season the other the only other one for me where at the
23:00moment i have a bit of a concern is out wide because obviously adinga is the only kind of fit
23:05left winger there's no sign of ramir mundel returning anytime soon adinga will go at the
23:10african cup of nations shems dean talbi is getting better and better which is good um but he is very
23:15very inexperienced he of all summon signings he has played apart from gui when he comes in he's played the
23:20least senior football so i think it's a big ask and the fact that parry roberts has had so few
23:24minutes in pre-season um suggests that maybe at this stage he's not prominent in labrisa's plans
23:30which i think is a little bit harsh but also kind of is what it is um so if that's the case then i
23:36really do think someone needs someone who can you know ideally play off both flanks um because we're
23:41talking about you know a 38 game season where there'll be injuries and dips in forming so those are the
23:46two positions for me that that right now i really want to see something do a bit more work in
23:50what about you james is there anywhere else i mean full back cover seems to be something that
23:56that dogs underland obviously niall huggins is is back and has played quite a prominent role in
24:01pre-season do you think he will be the one who potentially deputizes for tricky in the season
24:05i think it's possible i really really like niall huggins and i can sort of envisage a world in which
24:10he's a little bit of a wild card if he can if he can stay fit i think there will be some minutes
24:14there for him i genuinely think that if he had a run then he could be a potential premier league
24:20fullback i really think he's he's that good he's just been you know dogged by these long-term
24:26injuries which have spoiled any any hint of a run in the sutherland side but when he did briefly break
24:32into the sutherland side he scored a fantastic goal against coventry and around that time everybody
24:37was saying you know he's the best fullback at the club which is it's some praise in the championship
24:42when you had a really you know well-performing dennis irkin and trey hume i think you know at
24:48center back we're all getting excited about these you know multi-million pound signings and how they're
24:53going to look and will talby adapt and how good is a ding we're going to be and will this lad on loan
24:57from chelsea contribute but and you know with the goalkeeper coming in as well and addressing maybe
25:01some of the shortfalls that anthony patterson has but i mean that central defensive position
25:07does look really really light at the moment i think dan ballard is absolutely somebody who can
25:11step up to the premier league i think he would have possibly had a move away from sundown to the
25:16premier league if he hadn't had his own injury issues at some point i think that that's one that
25:20could have happened but he could sort of got injuries at key times didn't he jensen sealed as phil says i
25:25like but he barely played in the championship both ballard and sealed have injury issues so you can't
25:31hang your hat on them so i think you've got to have top level competition in there come the end of the
25:36season and all the side sorry come the beginning of the season and all the signs would point towards
25:40sunderland aiming for that i think the sort of targeting a different profile to what we're used
25:46to in terms of the chris meppams of this world they seem to want to go more athletic more powerful
25:50more pacey um somebody with like real top level european experience but you know it is hugely important
25:59that we get that over the line at some point soon isn't it because i i thought ranildo was was decent at
26:05center back against real betty's but i'm not sure he's really intended as a a long-term option there
26:11at the moment maybe that'll change i don't know but just his height and his lack of physicality in
26:17that position long term i think would suggest that sunderland need to strengthen so i think that's
26:22definitely the key position for me to watch going forward
26:25obviously we're talking about plenty of incomings but we are also expecting a fair few
26:31outgoings as well i mean there are some really obvious candidates you know in in the squad when
26:36we look at the likes of we would assume someone like a naz rusin for instance or you know other
26:41players who were perhaps out on loan last season who maybe don't have long-term futures at the club
26:46but there are also some sort of interesting uh candidates who well potential candidates who
26:52were really prominent in the first team last season james um you know we've alluded to the fact that
26:58anthony paterson isn't probably going to start the season as someone's going to be worn through a
27:01combination of injury and new signings obviously patrick roberts hasn't had many minutes in
27:06pre-season dan neal is another one who obviously was such a linchpin in the side last term but who
27:11hasn't necessarily played as many minutes as some might have expected i mean where do you think the
27:17futures of those sort of this like at the present moment
27:20it's really tough because phil mentioned that he's been surprised by the sort of exclusion of
27:27patrick roberts and dan neal and you have an affinity to these players what they've done at
27:31the club don't you and you want to see them step up and and help some of them thrive in the premier
27:36league dan neal i find a weird one because obviously some of them signed heavily in midfield but
27:40he's been linked with he's been linked with premier league moves for the past sort of three or four
27:45windows now so i genuinely think he can be a premier league player um it makes me a little sad
27:51that others don't i think he's got all the talent patrick roberts i think history would suggest it
27:56suddenly that when he's got better players around him he tends to play better um you know i'm very
28:01sentimental towards these players because they've been here a long time and they've they've done well
28:06for us and i find it just hard on a human level when they're sort of cast aside that saying
28:10sometimes you do have to be brutal in football i'm not sure i would be
28:14as brutal as that if it was my call um but they're you know sort of i wouldn't really be
28:20worried about the roberts and dan neals really like there's still a lot of players at the club
28:25that probably need to leave before that like you know rusin off the top of me head um abdul abar
28:30hasn't gone yet has he i don't think timothy pembele has gone i think ecu may have gone but it hasn't
28:35been announced yet i'm not really sure where that one stands and then there's there's obviously loan
28:39moves as as well to sort like you know that lewis himi is still at the club i believe so there's
28:46there's still a lot really to do isn't there in terms of outgoings before i would even consider
28:50letting let roberts or dan neal someone like that or just simply because as well you need a squad of
28:56players you know whether they're going to be happy being in that squad they might have had ideas of
29:00starting i don't know we've seen sunderland don't really stand in the way of players that want to go so
29:04i think the the future of the players you mentioned are definitely ones to watch but for
29:10me i i just wouldn't be entertaining at this point for the for the reasons i've mentioned i think
29:13there are players well down the list that need to depart before those two
29:17where do you stand on this phil because obviously i think we all sort of feel similarly about the
29:23likes of neil and roberts and passing players who've done so much for sunderland was so prominent last
29:28season um but i appreciate that passing there is an injury there as well but you know they haven't
29:33really had much of a look in this pre-season yeah no i mean as you as you say paterson needs to get
29:39fit first that's that's the first step there and then everything else can kind of flow from there
29:43i mean as i say i think the neil and roberts ones they seem to be kind of similar there is a key
29:47difference which you know in neil's case as james has alluded to there's been a huge amount of money
29:51invested in those those centre midfield positions and you know i think there's an argument there that
29:56you can just say well look um these players have been brought in it's up to dan to to be patient and when
30:01his opportunity comes to take it and i'm not for a second suggesting someone would like to move dan
30:06neil on it's quite clear that they wouldn't they think he can be one of those sort of six into three
30:11if you like um but i just think with the contract situation the way it is you know if he doesn't
30:15feel he's got a pathway to the team and somebody comes in at the end of the window then there's a
30:19decision to be made isn't there the contract status dictates that so we'll wait and see on that
30:23one the roberts one as i say i just find slightly odd because there isn't anywhere near at this
30:28present moment in time that level of competition in those positions um and from what we said you
30:33know i love dan neil but it's kind of obvious that granite zaka is going to be in the team and why
30:37he's going to be in the team um i just think you know with with talby he's a very promising player
30:41but we haven't seen a huge amount of evidence yet to suggest he's a long way ahead of roberts in
30:45terms of being able to impact premier league level so that's just a really really interesting one for
30:49me and as james said there's certainly no rush with either of these players and you know it might be
30:54one where they they sort of stay for the first phase of the season and just see how things work
30:57out and see if they can force their way in but at the same time i don't think you can deny i think
31:02it's quite clear from looking in um they both have fallen down the pecking order somewhat and you know
31:08it can't be any coincidence that they didn't get any minutes on on saturday in my opinion
31:12stuff should we round it out with a bit of injury news i think so obviously we are rapidly closing in
31:20on that first game of the season west ham at home on the 16th it's uh it's crazy isn't there's less
31:25than a fortnight we know it's come around so quick um obviously you've mentioned paterson
31:29still working his way back to fitness i mean aside from that phil who else uh who else is
31:35some encouragement concerned about let me try let me try and remember off the top of my head um
31:41well i think that the two that might be involved this weekend and therefore would realistically be in
31:46contention west ham with rig and isador i think rig has been stepping up the bits and bobs he's
31:50been doing in training isador's not really had a serious injury he's just yeah it's just kind of
31:55lingered he picked it up in the severe game i think he took a bit of a whack and but i think that the
31:59hope was that he would play on saturday which obviously in the end came too soon but there's a
32:03chance you know those guys are involved in um one of the friendlies at the weekend which means they
32:08could be on the bench for west ham i think it's hard to see either going straight into the starting 11
32:12um you know given that especially rig giving us like a minute in pre-season
32:16paterson you know it's kind of been a minor injury all summer but it's just one that he hasn't been
32:21able to seem to get over so technically the the club view has been that he probably would be available
32:26for the opening day but at the moment it feels like a little bit of a race against time so
32:29i wouldn't be surprised at all if he misses the start of the season and then obviously beyond that
32:35i think it's all the ones we kind of knew about wasn't it circ and yelda at least in 09
32:39first kind of was it the first three games i think the club have said mundal i think i'd be
32:46amazed if we saw mundal in august um i don't know at this point the exact exact extent of his injury
32:51and how long he's going to be out for so i don't want to speculate too much but i don't think it's
32:55one where you know we can expect him back in in the near future i think it will be a period of
33:00recovery for him and not to label the point james but when you look at that injury list there
33:06really does necessitate someone bringing in some more defensive cover before ideally before that
33:11west ham game does it yeah definitely and that's what i mean that that's the point i was trying to
33:16make probably before i got sidetracked and started rambling but all these really good excited attacking
33:21players uh it's great and we're all having a whale of a time and obviously granite shack are a good
33:26defensive number six but if we if we haven't got any top quality centre-halves that might be quite a
33:31um high scoring start of the season perhaps against west ham on the opening day and i don't think we
33:36want that and i think la barice doesn't want that because we know he is somebody who values structure
33:41patterns and defensive stability so yeah sign some some centre-halves i think
33:47fingers crossed fingers crossed right lovely that would be my uh football manager
33:54led advice would be thanks and centre-halves
33:56we'll uh we'll get speaking on the phone we'll learn um that's all we've got time for on this
34:02week's show join us again next week when we'll be discussing all of the latest in the news and
34:06developments in the meantime for all the latest black cats news on the southern echo you can give us a
34:10follow on social media as well thanks to james thanks to phil thanks to you for listening see you next time
34:16you
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