Phil Smith answers as part of his weekly Q&A with Sunderland Echo readers
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00:00and start mundle in the final he instantly made coventry sit back and give us so much more balance
00:04he defended like a champ as well and he says what a night on to wembley 4-4-2 worked very well
00:10against sheffield on year's day likewise in the first legged coventry but we got over a run and
00:14lost control of midfield in that formation tonight what's your hunch in how we'll set up
00:19um yeah really good question um i'm gonna take a sip of my coffee sorry i know it's annoying but
00:26i'm hoping today of all days you'll sympathize with me because i've had about three hours sleep
00:29um on the basis of what we saw last night if mundle's fit i think he has to start
00:37um i think the balance of the side the ability to control the game that have an end zone of fit in
00:44the middle of the pitch gives you for me it's it's it's the best team someone can put out has mundle
00:51on the left wing and the best team someone can put out is in a 4-3-3 and i think for me we saw that
00:57an extra time i think 4-4-2 has its real advantages as you mentioned andy there i think isidore
01:02mayender's pace on the break um can be fantastic for me that's something you turn to at the end of
01:08the game if you need it in a game like this my my personal feeling is that is that someone should
01:14go with a formation that served them so well over the course of the season try and get on the ball
01:18i think sheffield united will dominate possession and i think someone's will have to suffer again i think
01:23i think that's pretty obvious you look at the talent sheffield united have bolstered by parachute
01:27payments i think some of them are going to have to be pretty humble and have you approach the game
01:30again but i think that they'll want a little bit more control as you mentioned andy than they did
01:35last night and i think the three in the middle is the way to do that um for me jonesy in your point
01:40he starts for me if he's fit but that's the question mark and obviously the danger from a
01:45sondrum perspective is is that if you start and he can't play 90 minutes or he can't play 120 minutes
01:49you then potentially lose your most dynamic one of your most dynamic attacking players at a crucial
01:54point in the game so that's the risk um but the other thing i would say is the whole point of the
01:59way that labris has sort of managed tommy watson since the brighton move was announced was so you
02:04could use him for 15 20 minutes in a playoff final if you needed him that's what it's been all about
02:09and so my feeling is that mundl has to start because i thought last night i thought he was an absolute
02:13game changer and i'm pleased you've mentioned jonesy about his defensive work because it's not just
02:18about what he does going forward i think he is such a brilliant winger um i think enzo lafay
02:23deserves a lot of credit because ultimately out of position in a game that didn't really suit him
02:26at all he's delivered two assists i think that tells you all about his quality that he's found
02:31those moments um but i think you saw the benefits of having a proper left winger in the way that
02:35some of them play especially with a counter-attacking style um so there we go that's my thoughts on
02:41that um neil says best ever night at the sol phil
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