Why did Luke O'Nien take a penalty and should Alan Browne start against West Brom? - #onthewhistle
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00:00Hello, welcome to the On The Whistle video from the bowels of the Stadium of Light. My
00:13name's James Copley. I'm with my colleague Jason Jones. Phil will be back with you next
00:18week for the West Brom game. Sunderland have just beaten Millwall 1-0. We're going to go
00:22through some of your questions from social media. What have we got, Jase? Yeah, I mean
00:27there's a lot of them obviously asking about that late penalty. Yes. It was a big one,
00:31wasn't it? So, obviously Sunderland awarded a late penalty. Romain Mundell did wonderfully
00:35well to win it, it has to be said. Luke 0-9 stepped up to take it, somewhat surprisingly.
00:39We were a little bit baffled in the press box and there's just a lot of people asking
00:44thoughts on the reasoning behind that. Who takes it next week if Sunderland are to be
00:47awarded a penalty in the future? So, I've spoken to Lebris about this and Luke 0-9 had
00:53been taking them and scoring them in training so that's why he was preferred. If you look
00:57at Luke 0-9's penalty record, I think he scored 5 or 6 at Sunderland but they've all come
01:02in shootouts. Now, I think having Luke 0-9 as one of your penalty takers in a penalty
01:08shootout is perfectly acceptable and reasonable. However, in an in-game situation to have Luke
01:130-9 as your designated penalty taker, I'm not too sure about that. I do take the point
01:18that Wilson Isidore's missed his last two. I do take the point that Patrick Roberts missed
01:22his last one against Sheffield United. However, for me, call me old-fashioned but I think
01:27in an in-game situation, so not a penalty shootout, I want an attacker taking that.
01:33That's nothing against Luke 0-9 who I love. I really, really like Luke 0-9, one of my
01:36favourite Sunderland players ever but I just think you need an attacker on that. Luke 0-9
01:41strikes a really good ball, he passes a really good ball and he did play as a number 10 earlier
01:45on in his career but he's the centre-back now. Lebris said it wasn't really a question
01:49of whether he's a centre-back or an attacker or whatever but for me, a Romain Mundel or
01:54Joe Bellingham should be stepping up. I'm a little bit disappointed, I understand why
01:58he hasn't but I would have liked to have seen Wilson just grab that ball and say, I'm taking
02:02this, I'm banishing the demons, do you know what I mean? So, I found it bizarre. Luckily,
02:08it didn't mean anything in the end so it's alright. I'd rather Luke 0-9 stepped up and
02:13did that now than in the play-offs.
02:15We were talking about that weren't we? But I think, look, if he misses that in Sunderland,
02:20don't win the game. There is in-quest, up-raw, unbelievable amounts of fume but thankfully
02:27it didn't cost Sunderland. I mean, I think you made a very valid point. Romain Mundel
02:32was still on the pitch, he didn't look too happy about not being afforded the opportunity
02:37to take it. He's a job as well, he's another option. It just felt, from where we were,
02:43like a really left-field choice.
02:45Yeah, and Sunderland have now missed the last four penalties on the back. I do think it's
02:49a little bit of a bizarre situation at the club, like, surely they should just be able
02:53to ascertain the best penalty taker and just have him take it. It's sort of been a little
02:56bit of a hot potato which has been necessitated by Sunderland missing penalties but, yeah,
03:01hopefully they iron that out because penalties are important, especially in play-off campaigns.
03:06So if we get one, I'd quite like to score it.
03:09Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I don't know, I mean, obviously Lebris saying it was decided beforehand
03:13but the impression, and I might be wrong, the impression I got, it didn't seem super
03:18certain.
03:19Well, this is the thing, we spoke to Rajeev Lebris who said that it was sort of set in
03:25stone before the game but Chris Metham said he was a little bit surprised to see Lugo
03:299 going up to take it. So, take from that what you will.
03:32Yeah, and I guess it's one of those, the longer this goes on, the more of a narrative gets
03:36and the more of an issue it becomes.
03:38Yeah, and I just, call me old-fashioned but I just think it's different being a designated
03:43penalty taker to having had a good record in penalty shoot-outs against the likes of
03:47Bradford and the Papa Johns and stuff like that.
03:49I think it's a very valid point. Should we talk about something that isn't a penalty?
03:53Yes, yes.
03:54Obviously, another huge, well, huge, left field thing that we saw, Alan Brown starting
04:00at right-back. Obviously, Lebris' hand forced somewhat by a defensive injury crisis, saw
04:06many players out for Southern this week. What that meant was that Alan Brown came in at
04:10right-back, Trey Hulme went over to left-back, obviously got the match winning goal, played
04:13wonderfully well. I know you gave him your man of the match. Clayton Lumsden is asking
04:18here, Brown had a very solid game at right-back, should he be there next week, even if we see
04:22a Leo Hjelda back in front of him?
04:25Hulme played so well at left-back that I wouldn't be adverse to it. I really, really like Alan
04:29Brown. I think he's competitive, he's got that experience. We've wanted him in the side
04:32for a while, haven't we? We couldn't have predicted that this is the way he would be
04:35in the side. We were potentially looking at sent midfield, weren't we? But he's coming
04:39to the side at right-back, I really like him. He continues a proud Sunderland tradition,
04:43doesn't he, of midfielders going into right-back. We could sit here and stand here and name
04:48a list as long as our arms, couldn't we? But, you know, sometimes they say don't change
04:52your winning team and I thought that back line looked really, really solid. We mentioned
04:55on the post-match video that we did upstairs that perhaps his positioning was a little
05:01bit flaky at times, but that's been uber, uber critical. I think if he's allowed to
05:05grow into that role, you mentioned that his passing actually from the right-back spot
05:09could be an asset.
05:10Yeah, no, it's definitely something that I noticed. I mean, first of all, the positioning
05:14thing, it's not even necessarily a criticism. It's just that he naturally wants to drift
05:18in a little bit and I do think that there are times, especially when the ball's on the
05:21other side of the pitch, where his tendency to tuck in, he was maybe just tucking a bit
05:25too much and he just looked a little bit... But at the same time, I thought that Chris
05:29Metham next to him, for the most part, kept him right. I thought Metham had a really good
05:33game.
05:34Yeah, yeah, and I think as well, with that squad and that team being as young as they
05:38are generally, I think it's really good to have an Alan Brown in the team who's got that
05:43little bit more of experience, just to help the likes of Chris Metham, 09, Patrick Roberts,
05:47because after that, there's not a great deal in terms of age-wise experience there.
05:52Yeah, and like you say, in terms of distribution as well, there were a few times where we saw
05:56it where Patrick Roberts, Chris Rigg, you know, Brown had sort of hit most balls over
06:02the top, looking to find that running behind. It just gave Sunderland, on occasion, a different
06:07sort of dimension to them and yeah, I was impressed with them. I was impressed with
06:11them.
06:12Yeah, it was good. I mean, it was a very physical, direct Millwall side, wasn't it? They didn't
06:15try and play loads of football. They didn't have too many chances, like a couple of headers
06:19that were just straight, it sort of passed and there was a chance at the end, which Chris
06:22Metham obviously produced a stunning block. So that was excellent and I thought generally
06:27as a back four, yeah, they were as good as you could expect them to be.
06:31Yeah, pretty much, pretty much. I've got a question here from Brett Redmayne. He's asking
06:35about Milan Aleksic, saying he's impressed me in the times I've seen him. Do you think
06:39we should be using this energy more off the bench?
06:42Yeah, I really, really like Milan Aleksic when I've seen him. I've seen him play a little
06:46bit for the under-21s as well. I think he's got pace. I don't think at this stage in his
06:51Sunderland career he's going to come on in the midfield. He was bought primarily as a
06:56midfielder but it doesn't feel like that's where his strongest position is. He's come
07:01on mostly for Lebris as the left winger. Now, Romain Mundell's fit and Tommy Watson's coming
07:06off the bench so it's tough for Milan Aleksic. He could come on on the right, he's come on
07:10on the right in the past but I do feel for him. He's got a lot of talent. Lebris has
07:14mentioned that he's a little bit frustrated. Potentially he's won more for next season
07:19but yeah, he came with a lot of hype and it feels like he hasn't had too much of a chance
07:25to shine. I mean, there have been games where Sunderland have been winning by more than
07:29a one goal margin and he hasn't been brought on. The Oxford and Derby games at home would
07:33maybe stand out off the top of my head. We didn't see him in those moments, did we? So
07:39I think he's frustrated and I can probably understand why.
07:42Yeah, I see that, I really do. But I think you're absolutely right when you say that
07:45he's a player who's been bought for the future. We've seen it so many times. Romain Mundell
07:50barely got a look in.
07:51Maienda.
07:52Yeah, Elisa Maienda, exactly. So, you know, from my perspective I'm not super concerned
07:57about a lack of game time for Milan Aleksic. I think his time will come. I think that he's
08:02obviously been signed to play in a central midfield role. I think that the competition
08:07and the quality in those positions right now sort of necessitates that he's not going
08:11to get that many minutes there. Like you say, the left wing position where he has sort of
08:15come on, where Sunderland struggled because of injuries for so long this season, isn't
08:18really so much of a problem for them anymore.
08:21And when they had those two injuries, it was Enzo Laffey and he wasn't going to unseat
08:25him, was he?
08:26Exactly. And if we're calling the spade a spade, you know, Sunderland, they have a succession
08:29plan in place and there are certain players in that midfield who probably aren't going
08:33to be at Sunderland forever, regrettably. And, you know, the idea is that someone like
08:38a Milan Aleksic, he's not necessarily expected to play too many minutes right now because
08:42in a year or two, when he's a little bit older, when he's a little bit more acclimatised to
08:46not just the club and the football, but also just being in England and all the things that
08:50come around a player like that young, moving to a new country, that's when his time will
08:54come.
08:55Exactly. And I think you're absolutely right. However, could we have blooded him a little
08:59bit better this season? I think potentially, yes. But that doesn't mean that doesn't mean
09:02he can't and won't do well in Sunderland.
09:04No, no.
09:05We've got one more. We've got room for one more.
09:08We have. One from Mike Smith. He's asking, do you think there's been a drop-off in team
09:11spirit and togetherness?
09:14That's really interesting because we spoke to Chris Metham after the game and he was
09:18really critical of Sunderland's performance against Coventry. Labreece was as well, obviously.
09:23But for me, the team spirit seems to be there, to be honest. There seems to be, you know,
09:30a real togetherness. Labreece talks about connection quite often, doesn't he? And I
09:34genuinely feel like there is a connection between the fans, the players and the coaching
09:37staff. You know, that incident with Mundell and the penalty debacle and all that sort
09:42of stuff, those things happen in teams. It shows a bit of passion, a bit of friction,
09:46creates a bit of fire. It shows that they care. I think the team spirit within this
09:49group is very good, actually. And I think that actually shows by the way they've been
09:54able to bounce back from the Preston and the Coventry results and performances and get
09:57back to winning ways against the Millwall side, which, to be honest, can be a bit of
10:01a nightmare to play against. I know it was at the Den, it was at the Stadium of Light,
10:05which mitigates us a little bit. But Alex Neil's side is horrible to play against. We
10:08know that from when he was Sunderland manager and they did well to get that result. The
10:12only criticism I have is that they weren't further ahead.
10:14Yeah, I mean, they probably should have buried it before they did. I think it's important
10:18that we don't misinterpret poor performances for a lack of spirit or a lack of fight or
10:24anything like that. I think that this is a good group and they seem happy to have each
10:28other's backs. Yes, there's been difficult results in recent weeks and there's been difficult
10:33patches during the course of the season, but it's a championship season.
10:36I think as well with this group, they may have bad results, stuff might happen on the
10:42pitch, they might disagree with each other, they might even fall out. Do we hear about
10:46any of it? No. There's some very high-profile incidents in the Premier League this season
10:50where there's been dressing room spats and falling outs and team sheets and this and
10:54that. You don't get any of that from Sunderland. I think it's a very tight, well-disciplined
10:58group. Possibly, maybe he's looking for stuff that's not there, I would say.
11:02Yeah, I would agree. Should we call it there? Yes, we should. Sunderland Echo for all the
11:06latest content ahead of West Brom and Phil will be back after the West Brom game.
11:11Thanks for watching.