Sunderland vs Millwall preview with Cirkin and Hume potentially out...
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00:00Hello everybody, welcome to the RAW Podcast brought to you by the Sunderland Echo. My
00:21name's James Copley. Today we're going to be previewing the Sunderland vs Millwall clash
00:26in the Championship at the Stadium of Light this weekend. We're going to be tackling it
00:30from a Sunderland perspective though, so today I'm joined by my colleague Jason Jones. Jason,
00:35how you doing? Yeah, not too bad mate, not too bad. About as well as you can be on a
00:40Tuesday morning, you know. That's it. Still a fair bit to talk about though, Jason. Run
00:45us through the agenda for today. Yeah, well I think obviously the main thing, you know,
00:50we're going to be looking at the need for Sunderland to bounce back. Obviously a couple
00:54of disappointment results prior to the international break. And then we're also going to be talking
00:58about a couple of potential injury concerns. Dennis Sirk and Trey Hugh, namely. Both players
01:06haven't sort of dropped out of their respective international camps over the past week. Yeah,
01:12we'll be looking at what Reg might do to sort of combat any perspective changes at the back.
01:19You know, possible options of full back for Sunderland in a game that I'm sure you'll
01:23agree, James. It could potentially represent quite a tricky task for Sunderland. Obviously
01:29Millwall themselves pushing for a playoff place, managed by a former Sunderland boss
01:34as well, which we always know is a bit of a banana skin. Alex Neil is at the helm, at
01:38the dent at the present moment in time. So yeah, all in all, probably going to be an
01:44interesting one for Sunderland this weekend. Shall we start with Hugh? That was the news
01:49yesterday, wasn't it, that Trey Hugh had withdrawn from international duty with the Northern
01:53Ireland? Let's go with that, shall we? Yeah, let's start there. So as you say, Trey Hugh
02:00played the first game of Northern Ireland's international break. And then prior to the
02:07second game, he sort of dropped out. The word from Michael Neil, the Northern Ireland boss,
02:12being that he sort of aggravated a hip injury. Now, obviously, James, I think you probably
02:18know a little bit more about this than me. I mean, what's the situation there? You know,
02:22is this something that Sunderland should be particularly concerned about? Is it looking
02:25as if he's going to be out for a little while? Or is there a possibility that he could still
02:29feature on Saturday against Millwall? Yeah, I think the comments are definitely a concern.
02:34Obviously, we don't know the extent to which Hugh has aggravated this hip injury. I think
02:38O'Neill saying that he's been playing with it for a while at Sunderland, that is a concern
02:42that he hasn't really been training. That's sort of news to us, isn't it? We weren't aware
02:46of that. If he's been getting through games, then that does provide a little bit of hope,
02:52I guess. I suspect something like this will have been a little bit of a gentleman's agreement
02:56between Sunderland and Northern Ireland. I imagine he's played one game and they've sent
03:01him back. I think that was probably agreed beforehand, but we can't know for sure. I
03:05think Trey Hughes is the type of player where he's just desperate to play football all of
03:08the time. So it is definitely a worry. I think there is an outside shot that he could play
03:13against Millwall. It wouldn't surprise me if he did. Obviously, we're only on Tuesday
03:18now. So I think, obviously, La Brice will have a bit more information about that on
03:23Thursday. But I couldn't say he's definitely out and I couldn't say he's definitely in
03:29either. I know that's sitting on the fence and not very helpful to anybody. But yeah,
03:37it's definitely one to watch. With Sergin's injury as well, again, we're not entirely
03:42sure he's definitely going to be out. But I think we can say with a relative degree
03:46of certainty that that's more likely than Hulme, given the type of injury. It looked
03:50to be a calf, didn't it, against Coventry City. So again, La Brice will be asked about
03:54that on Thursday, but I suspect he'll be out. So changing two of that back line is going
04:01to be tricky, potentially. So yeah, lots to discuss tactically, formation-wise, and the
04:07options La Brice has, I think, as well, Jase. So yeah, all eyes to Thursday, really. But
04:12I mean, Hulme's made ever-present, hasn't he, this season, and it would be a blow if
04:15he wasn't there.
04:16Yeah, you're absolutely right. And I think, obviously, you're saying that he's an ever-present,
04:22but to a certain extent, it's kind of been forced, you know, from a Sunderland perspective.
04:26You know, they don't really have another right back. And it's something that we've spoken
04:30about quite a lot. Obviously, Luke09 is an option. He can go out there. He can play there.
04:37The problem you've got there is that Sunderland, at the present moment in time, don't have
04:40a wealth of fit centre-backs. Obviously, Dan Ballard, we're not expecting back until
04:46probably a couple of three weeks after the international break. So you're probably looking
04:49mid-April for him. Hadji Alisa's season is over after that injury that he sustained against
04:54Stoke City. Obviously, Jenson Sealt is back, and he's sort of, you know, in and around
05:01the squad. But as I think we've sort of alluded to a couple of times, in recent weeks, it's
05:07a big ask to drop him straight into the starting XI in a championship match at this present
05:13moment in time, bearing in mind how long he was sidelined for with that knee injury. So,
05:18you know, it really does highlight a recurrent concern in Sunderland's squad. And obviously,
05:24you know, during the January transfer window, Le Bris was very adamant that, you know, he
05:30felt that he had the options. He felt he had enough depth to sort of deal with any prospective
05:37absences over the course of Sunderland's promotion run. I don't think, if we're being fair to him,
05:42you know, he could have really foreseen the sheer volume of injuries that Sunderland have suffered
05:49at the back since then, you know, since that January transfer window. Obviously, Ballard,
05:53like I say, he's dropped out. Serkin, as we'll talk about in a little bit more detail, I'm sure,
05:57but he's looking doubtful, humes of doubt. Alisa is, you know, obviously pretty much straight
06:03away as soon as he went down against Stoke. We were at that game and we both felt it was going
06:08to be a bad one and it proved to be the case. So, you know, it is a little bit of a quandary for
06:14Le Bris as to what he does if Hume isn't available at the weekend because, as I said there, he doesn't
06:21have a whole load of options available to him. Shall we run through them quickly? I wrote about
06:28this on the Sunderland Echo website. So, in terms of Millwall keeping a back four,
06:33previous managers have shown a little bit of a desire to keep the centre-back pair together. So,
06:38obviously, Meppermann or Nye have played a lot of games together. If Le Bris wanted the continuity
06:43of keeping those two together, you could see Sealed play it right back in the game against
06:48Millwall. It isn't his natural position, but he has played there before. That, as you say,
06:53is a little bit of a risk and a gamble. He's only just returned from a long knee injury.
06:59If Serkin does miss the game as well, then you could see Le Bris wanting to keep that
07:03centre-back partnership intact because then you're only changing two positions instead of three.
07:11Ole Bainbridge is an option. I think that feels unlikely. He can play left-back,
07:15right-back and centre-back. He's impressed with Graeme Moat. He's on the 21 side. I think if he
07:20was to come into the team, it would be at left-back. But, again, I think that's unlikely.
07:24He's yet to make his first-team debut for Sunderland. He does have some experience playing
07:28senior football this season. He was at loan at Kilmarnock, played at Celtic Park. He might be
07:34worth a spot on the bench given his versatility in a defensive crisis, but it would be a huge leap of
07:39faith. Obviously, the other option is to play Sealed at centre-back and have O-Nine move out
07:46to right-back. O-Nine's played a lot of football there. Alan Brown, Jace, I think could be a
07:53potential option at right-back as well if they wanted to go down that road just because of his
07:59experience. I don't know if he's played much there before, but just in terms of his playing style,
08:06I think he could definitely do a temporary job there. I think his professionalism,
08:11his work rate are key attributes that could go down that side. Yeah, those were my thoughts
08:20initially, to be honest, but then I think there's also been a few discussions about
08:24potentially a back five. So, there's a lot to think about. A lot to think about.
08:29There is. There really is. The Alan Brown shout is an interesting one because you mentioned there
08:36about potential options. I was sort of going through the roller decks in my mind of Sunderland
08:39squad. Who could you plug into that? There aren't a lot of options. When you think about
08:49Sunderland's wide players, they're all more traditional attacking forces. They all tend
08:57to play on the front foot. You certainly can't imagine, well, it's that Luton playoff semi-final,
09:02but you can't imagine Patrick Roberts at right-back, can you really? It really
09:09is thin on the ground. Obviously, the British's hand is going to be forced a little bit as well
09:13if Serkin is out of action because that necessitates Leo Hjelda playing left-back,
09:18you would assume. Obviously, he would be another option to potentially play in the centre that
09:23would then free up O-9 to go to right-back. I think what I would say about Seals coming back
09:29into the side, if that is the way that Sunderland are forced to go, I think that it makes more
09:36sense to slot him in at right-back and keep that centre-back pairing together. Obviously,
09:42it hasn't been perfect, but I think that for the most part, O-9 and Mepham have been a really
09:47dependable and pretty rock-steady partnership at the back. Especially given that Leo Hjelda does
09:54have a little bit of experience in that defensive unit in recent games, it's not as strange to him
10:01than it would have been, say, two months ago because he has played a little bit now.
10:06He has, he has. To be fair to him as well, I think that even over the course of the two starts
10:12that he's had, and I know he then had that untimely setback of his own, but I do think
10:17that he was starting to find his feet a little bit. I think that in the initial knock-ins against
10:24Sheffield Wednesday, I thought he looked a little bit shaky and a little bit unsure of himself,
10:28but I thought that moving forward from that point onwards, and certainly when he was forced
10:32out at left-back especially, I thought he did okay. I thought he did okay. I thought that it
10:37was at the Cardiff game that he started at left-back and I actually thought he linked quite
10:42well with Mundell and Bellingham out on that left side. Obviously, it's something that La Brissa has
10:48spoken about quite a lot, isn't he? Those triangles in wide areas, the need to get the full-back into
10:52attacking areas to bring the centre midfielder in and to create chances that way. I thought
10:57that Hjelda actually equipped himself pretty well in that regard. If he were to start at left-back
11:02on Saturday, and obviously we don't know until La Brissa's comments on Thursday, but I do think
11:06it's probably safe to assume or at least postulate that the second isn't going to be part of the start
11:13of XI. I think the other question as well is, is Hjelda definitely going to be fit? He sounded
11:20like he was going to be, but that's another one. We're doing all this on the proviso that Leo
11:24Hjelda is definitely going to be fit. Don't get me wrong, I think he is, but there is still a
11:28little minor question mark around him as well. I'm basing that purely on the last press conference
11:35that La Brissa gave, he said he should be available, but obviously, shoulda, woulda, coulda.
11:41We've heard should be available before and then nowhere to be seen for three weeks.
11:46Absolutely. Assuming Hjelda is going to be available, I would have no qualms about him
11:53starting at left-back. It is that question at right-back. Again, it's another big if,
11:57but if Hjelda is not available. If Hjelda is capable of playing, it negates a lot of this
12:03conversation. The one thing I would say is that he hasn't looked like a player who hasn't been
12:09training and he hasn't looked like a player who's been battling a sort of recurring hip injury. I
12:14thought that in recent weeks, he's actually looked really good, Trey Hjelm. He's looked like the Trey
12:21Hjelm that we've grown accustomed to. In that regard, it came as a bit of a shock to me when
12:26Michael O'Neill said that he hasn't been training all that often.
12:31Yeah, his number's always really high. You know what you're going to get done. You're up and down
12:35that right-hand side. He's got a phenomenal tackle on him, as we all know and love. Offensively as
12:40well, I think he's really underrated. He's got seven goal contributions this season, which is the
12:44same as Job and Mundell. Obviously, Mundell's been out for a long time, but that's nearly as many as
12:53Patrick Roberts on eight. He's got more than Chris Rigg and Dan Neal. He's a real threat. His
12:59crossing's really good. I think he's a leader in the group as well. So, it would be a bit of a blow,
13:05there's no doubt about that. But yeah, let's just wait and see. And you're right, he hasn't played.
13:10I think Sunderland's form has dipped generally, hasn't it? But I don't think he's played.
13:16He's not looked like, when he's playing, that he's had an injury. I think we spoke to him quite
13:21recently, actually, after a game. And you can tell he just wants to play. I actually asked him,
13:27you know, are you due a rest? Because it feels like everybody else has had some sort of rest
13:32across the season. As you say, a lot of that was necessitated by Sunderland not bringing in full
13:36back cover in competition. But he was just like, no, don't think so. I'll just crack on. And I think
13:41he's just like that, isn't he? And I think that's what we all quite like about him. He's a very,
13:47very Sunderland, right back his knees, just like solid, dependable, little bit of quality,
13:52gets stuck in, always available. And I think that's what we like at this club.
13:56Absolutely, absolutely. Obviously, you know, mentioned at the top of the show,
14:03a couple of disappointing results for Sunderland leading into this international break.
14:07Obviously, the draw against Preston and then that heavy defeat against Coventry, the heaviest
14:12versus 10 years so far. How important, James, is it that they rediscover some momentum with a good
14:20result against Millwall this weekend? Yeah, then they get back to winning ways. There's
14:26no doubt about that. Obviously, the gloom is setting over the international break,
14:29isn't it? We discussed that in the last podcast. It's Alex Neil, it's Millwall. You want to beat
14:35them an excellent manager coming back to the Stadium of Light. You want to get one over on him.
14:40You know, he did a really good job at Sunderland, but the way he left still leaves a little bit of
14:44a sour taste in Sunderland fans' mouths. And you just want to see Lebris and his side
14:51bounce back because, as we've mentioned before, getting that momentum back coming into the
14:56playoffs is going to be really difficult if this sort of slump continues. You want a reaction.
15:01Hopefully, though, with the international break, a couple of players will have been rested
15:06and they can sort of refine the form and really attack these last eight games of the season.
15:13And I think, as well, sort of repay that home crowd for the faith this season. It's very
15:18important. There's been so much good work done between Sunderland and the fans and the team.
15:24Lebris always talks about that sort of trifecta and how, if they're all working
15:28together, it's really powerful. And there's a lot of trust being rebuilt and you don't want to see
15:33performances dip because we know how quickly it can turn, obviously, finishing 16th in the
15:37championship last season. There's maybe a little doubt creeping in that Sunderland have that within
15:42their psyche to go on a bad run again. So, I think, yeah, it's hugely important at the turn of
15:48the tide. I wouldn't say it's critical if they don't get a result against Millwall, obviously,
15:54because there's still, you know, there'd be still seven games to play and Sunderland's playoff
15:58place looks assured. But I think just for the mentality of everybody, it would be good to get
16:04a decent performance in there. Yeah, I think it's a narrative thing more than anything else,
16:09isn't it? You know, like you say, you would assume that Sunderland are relatively secure
16:14in that playoff place. But the last thing they will want to do is to head into, you know,
16:20a potential game against the likes of a Coventry City, could be a West Brom, could be Bristol City,
16:25could be any number of teams. But the last thing that they'll want to be doing is heading
16:28into a game of two-legged tie, that magnitude, on the back of a really patchy run of form. You
16:34know, I think that if they can sort of put to bed some of the doubts that have perhaps
16:42arisen in recent weeks with a good performance against Millwall and then build on that,
16:48then I think it would do wonders for the confidence around WESI writ large, not just
16:52in the squad, but also in the fan base. And I do think you're absolutely right, like, you know,
16:56it's so important that both the team and the fan base are aligned in the sense that they both feel
17:03that buoyancy heading into a playoff campaign. Because, you know, as wonderful as the Stadium
17:08of Light is, as wonderful as that connection is between the fans and the squad, when things aren't
17:14going well, it can also be quite a heavy burden to bear, I feel. You know, I don't think that's
17:19a particularly controversial statement that, you know, when you've got a fan base of that size and
17:26of that ardency, really sort of, you know, not feeling it, it can be a difficult thing to work
17:33through for a team. So yeah, I think a good result this weekend, like you say, is really important,
17:39but more so because it would just sort of perhaps shift some of the mentality around what's
17:45happening at the present moment in time. But I do also think as well, you know, you would hope
17:52that this international break has come at a good time for Sunderland, you know, that it felt like
17:55they maybe needed just a bit of a reset, a bit of an opportunity to gather themselves. And I know a
18:00few players have been away on international duty, but for the most part, you would like to think
18:05that it's given them an opportunity to really sort of ground themselves and hopefully attack
18:08these last eight games with a renewed sense of purpose. Yeah, and I do wonder with that little
18:13bit of time on the training pitch, the opportunity for La Brice and his staff to have a little
18:18rethink. I do wonder if they might try a different formation against Millwall. I'm not saying he's
18:24going to scrap his regular formation because we know he likes to play that, but with the
18:28potential injuries, I do wonder if he could go 3-5-2. I know it's been discussed internally.
18:35That means you could have Sild or Hjelda in the middle and they could be sort of protected by
18:40Mepham in 0-9. It would mean playing somebody like Patrick Roberts at right wing-back if Trey Hulme
18:46wasn't fit, and it would mean playing Romain Mundell left wing-back if Surgan is definitely
18:52absent, which is looking increasingly likely. But that would mean La Brice would get to keep
18:56his favoured midfield three of Neil Job and Chris Rigg. You'd also have the opportunity to play
19:02Isidore and Mayenda up front, which is something a lot of fans have wanted. Again, you could play
19:09Alan Brown at right wing-back if you didn't want to go with Patrick Roberts.
19:13You could also have sort of a back five of Hjelda at 0-9, sealed Mepham and Roberts if you wanted to
19:18slice it that way. So, I do wonder if in a couple of these games towards the end of the season,
19:23we might see a few little different things from La Brice as he sort of looks to develop
19:30his squad ahead of the playoffs. We've experimented with that 4-4-2 and it did
19:36work against Sheffield United at home and it has worked in games, hasn't it, Jase? But
19:40I think back to Sutherland's last promotion winning campaign and being able to play five
19:46at the back, it does really help in the modern game, doesn't it? I'm not saying Sutherland are
19:50going to sort of throw four at the back in the bin and revert to a back five for the rest of
19:56the season and go really ultra-defensive, but I wonder if it's worth exploring. I'm not saying
20:02that they're definitely going to go hell for leather with it, but I do wonder if it might
20:06come in at some point. Well, it's good to have options, isn't it? And I think the flip side of
20:12the situation that Sutherland currently find themselves in, obviously the downside of it is
20:16that perhaps it's difficult to maintain some momentum and to maintain that need to push on
20:22because the playoffs are secured, they're not going to make the automatics now, you'd assume,
20:26so how do you maintain that momentum heading into a playoff campaign? The other side of it,
20:31like I say, is that it does perhaps give Le Bris the opportunity to tinker with things with a
20:37little less pressure on the situation, you know, he's not having to go out and obviously someone
20:42will want to win every game ending the playoffs, but from a numerical standpoint, in terms of the
20:46points tally, it's not absolutely vital. So like you said, it is an option, it's an option that's
20:51available to him. What I would say in terms of the wing back options is that one thing that I would
21:00say about Sutherland's wingers is that I don't necessarily think you can fault their work rate.
21:04I think that, you know, one of the biggest things that I think Romain Mundell has over, say, Jack
21:10Clark last season is that, and this is not shared on Jack Clark either, by the way, but he really
21:15does graft in a defensive sense. Romain Mundell is willing to get up and down that line, he's
21:19willing to put himself about a little bit. And I think that in that sense, he wouldn't necessarily
21:23be, you know, unsuited to playing as a left wing back. Patrick Roberts, maybe a few more question
21:30marks around there, but he does put in a shift to his credit, you know, so it'd be an interesting
21:34one. And I do think that if he were to go to a five foot back and was able to call on Trey Hulme
21:41as well, then I think it makes a little bit more sense. No, it definitely does. I wrote about this
21:48actually in a sense that if Hulme is fit, you can bench Roberts. That means Mundell can obviously
21:56play quite high up on the left hand side of it. It's sort of that isometric formation, isn't it,
22:00where your left centre back can fill out to the left back spot when Mundell's on the attack.
22:07No, I think you're right to point that out. Yeah, yeah. So, it's going to be interesting,
22:12it is going to be interesting. And obviously, like you say, that midfield three that he does prefer,
22:18I guess the big thing with that is that it's three, if we're including Chris Riggin,
22:25three very young players who perhaps needed a bit of a rest. I know Rig and Bellingham have been
22:29away on international duty. Bellingham got an assist last night as well for him in the 21s. I
22:33mean, it was the most basic assist you'll ever see. He's passed the ball five yards deep and
22:37yeah, he's got an absolute worldie, but he's got an assist. And hopefully those three will,
22:44Daniel included, will be able to come back and just have a little bit more energy about them,
22:49perhaps be a little bit more rejuvenated. Do you know what I mean? Because I think that's one of
22:52the things that we have seen, perhaps in recent weeks, that Rig, I know he's been in another team,
22:56but Rig especially has started to look a little bit jaded, a little bit leggy. And Bellingham as
23:01well, as wonderful as he's been this season, he's obviously going to need some sort of rest
23:05at some point. I'm just obviously seeing that comment as well from Thomas Crangles saying,
23:10we never mentioned Niall Huggins, do we know anything about him? Now, obviously the situation
23:13with Niall Huggins is that he's just injured. And it's a real shame because it sort of hits on a
23:18key issue, which is that if you have Niall Huggins to call on, Sunderland do have a wonderful deputy
23:24to Trey Hulme because he was so good prior to his injury last season.
23:29Yeah, he's a player I really, really like, and it's such a shame that we're not going to see him.
23:33You know, the same with Alissi as well, players that I really, really like and could definitely
23:37improve Sunderland's start at XI and the versatility in the squad. But it's just a
23:42shame that he picked up that injury. And I don't think we're going to see him until like
23:47pre-season at the least. Maybe he's a bit longer. It's a shame for him as well because I remember
23:54Phil Smith, our colleague at the Etgo, who was actually recently married, we should say
23:58congratulations to Phil. He spoke to Huggins in the summer under Mowbray before the Mallorca game,
24:06where he was just sort of coming back to fitness after another long injury layoff. And he was really
24:10buzzing to be back. People forget how young these lads are as well and how much it affects them when
24:15they get injured. And to see him sort of to hit the heights in a Sunderland shirt where he scored
24:20that wonderful goal, I forget who it was against, but he scored that wonderful goal at the Stadium
24:23of Light. And suddenly everybody was talking about him as like maybe Sunderland's best fullback in
24:28terms of talent-wise. And then to get injured again is gutting really because he's a really,
24:34really nice lad and a good player as well at the boot. Yeah, I mean, I think the one thing you would
24:39say about him as well is that, you know, despite the fact that he's been sidelined for so long,
24:43Sunderland have seen fit to hand him a contract extension. And I think that obviously in one
24:48sense, what that does is take the pressure off his recovery and it allows him the time to properly
24:53get himself back to full fitness without the concern about potentially being out of contract
24:58and having to find a new club, whatever it may be. But more importantly, I think that I read
25:03it as a signifier of how much faith they have in him. And I think that there is a belief that if
25:07they can get him back to the levels that he was showing prior to the injury, they have got a real
25:13player on their hands there. You know, it's not obviously the extent of the injury is worse, but
25:17it's not a million miles away from what we saw with Dennis Serkin last season, where it was
25:22obviously so frustrating that he wasn't on the pitch. But there was that continued belief that
25:26when he was back, he was going to make an impact. And then obviously we saw that, especially the
25:31first half of the season with Serkin, really did come to fruition, you know. So I think when Huggins
25:36is back, and like you say, he's going to be probably quite a while. But when he is back,
25:42I don't see any reason why he can't actually be knocking on the door to maybe try and
25:46displace, whether it be a Serkin, whether it be a Hewn. Because like you say, when he was
25:51fit and firing, he was performing at a level that would suggest he has the talent to be able to
25:56actually, you know, be a first team player for us. Absolutely. Shall we predict our start elevens
26:02before we head off? I'll put you on the spot, but I've got mine written down if you want me to go
26:07first while you have a little think. You go first and then I'll just agree with you. So.
26:12So despite having teased a formation change, I don't actually think that's going to happen
26:16because all I've been told is that it's been discussed internally, but I haven't been told
26:21the result of that conversation. So it may well have been discussed internally and Lebris might
26:25have gone, nah. So I'm working off that. So I've got Pato on goal. I think Hjelda's going to start
26:30left back. I think we're going to see 0-9 Mepham and I'm copping out really here, but I've got
26:37Sealed slash Hume. I think if Hume's available he'll play, obviously, but I think he will go
26:42with Sealed right back as opposed to 0-9. I think he'll go Neil Rigg and Job and then I think he'll
26:48go Mundell Roberts and then I'm tipping him to bring back in Isidor to start, but he does love
26:54Eliza Mayenda as well, doesn't he? So I could see Mayenda starting. If Phil was here, he'd be
26:59taking the Michael out of me because I haven't really predicted anything there have I? There's
27:03a lot of caveats, but yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I was going to say,
27:08you've just named Sutherland's entire squad there, haven't you? I think, yeah, look, I'd agree with
27:13you. I think a lot hinges on Hume's fitness. If he's fit, he plays. It's that simple. But obviously,
27:19there's no way of knowing that until potentially Thursday, potentially Saturday. It's as simple as
27:23that. So yeah, the Mayenda-Isidor one is an interesting question. I think he'll probably
27:31bring Isidor back in. I think it's as well as Mayenda has done. I think that you can't overlook
27:37the impact Isidor's had this season and it does feel a little bit harsh to keep him on the bench,
27:41bear in mind how many goals he scored and how wonderful he's been since he came through the
27:45door. The only other one I would perhaps flag, Alan Brown potentially for Rigg. I like what Alan
27:52Brown brings to that midfield. I like the application. I like the little bit of grit. I
27:56like the experience. And against a side like Milwaukee, it might not be the worst idea in
28:02the world. So again, I'm not exactly nailing my colours to the mast here, but I would largely
28:07agree with you with the caveat that maybe Alan Brown for Chris Rigg. But again, we're only going
28:13to find out when we find out aren't we? Yeah, true. I would like to see him do that. I really
28:16would. I think I would have liked to have seen it against Coventry, but he just loves that midfield
28:21three, doesn't he? He absolutely loves them and I could understand why, but I think that's
28:26certainly one to watch and I wouldn't be adverse to that at all.
28:30No, fully agree. Fully agree. Right. Should we call it that then James?
28:34Yeah, let's go and find something to write about during the international break.
28:41Yeah, the joys of sports journalism. Yeah. So obviously keep across all Sunderland news on
28:46the Sunderland deck or me and James, you can give us a follow on social media as well. We'll be
28:51at the Stadium of Light on Saturday for coverage of the game. And until then, we will see you next time.