Fan Letters: "The difference between Sunderland and Leeds United was clear to see!"

19/02/2025 07:00

It's a packed mailbag today as RR readers have their say on Monday's clash with Leeds, as well as our prospects for the remainder of the season. Got something to say? Email us: RokerReport@yahoo.co.uk

Dear Roker Report,

Firstly, thank you for such balanced yet personal opinions on Sunderland AFC.

I've just recovered (I think) from Leeds and I saw a talented Sunderland squad against a team which is funded by parachute payments and the sale of Premier League players from when they were relegated.

The reality is that we weren't able to battle toe-to-toe and the difference was clear to see.

This has to be the first game in which Enzo Le Fée struggled, and I know others may think differently, but that's my take and I do find our head coach's defensive mindset a little worrying.

I have two concerns moving forward.

If we get promoted. we'll need to recruit some experience to support the young squad, but if we're not promoted, how many players are we going to lose?

How the 2025/2026 Championship is going to look is a question for another day, but I think Luke O'Nien is the only player who isn't being considered by clubs at a higher level and there have to be some players who want to take a step forward.

I'm proud of this squad and the fact that since our promotion season, we've felt like a team with a united spirit — something we missed during the previous decade.

Steve Jones

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Steve. Thank you for your letter.

I've heard quite a lot of people mention the subject of parachute payments when discussing our games against the former Premier League sides this season, and whilst I do think it plays a part in their ability to compete so strongly, I don't think it's the be all and end all.

We've been competitive in all six games against Burnley, Leeds and Sheffield United this season (not to mention our two victories over Luton Town) and it's not unreasonable to say we should've achieved even better results against them.

In Leeds' case, their ability to change a game from the bench paid dividends on Monday night, but I don't think there's a huge gulf and that made the loss even more sickening.

We competed strongly, but the game swung on key moments in which we came off second best, and that's the step we need to take in order to fight for the top two on a consistent basis.

Dear Roker Report,

With the Leeds defeat still so fresh, I write not to condemn, criticise, or ridicule, but merely to commiserate.

Giving up two goals past the 75th minute of normal time has solidified Sunderland's first place in a dubious list, as no other team has lost more points this season after the 75th minute.

In all honesty, we're in a league of our own on this. We lost our twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth points with those two goals and only Bristol City with eleven are giving us a run and no one else has reached double figures.

In fairness to the Lads, they've also won seven points after the 75th minute, but the combined negative seven points is still top (or bottom) of the table.

So, if you feel that it's especially frustrating to back the Lads, you're 100% correct. It's not horrible to sit fourth in the table with a comfortable margin on seventh place; it's just the manner in which it's been achieved has been a bit painful to participate in.

The disappointment in the loss will fade.

We have thirteen more games to root on our team in the season followed by a home and away series against a team that we'll be heavily favored to beat.

Make sure the calendar is clear for 24/25 May. It might be time to let go of the automatic promotion dream, and start getting excited about a trip to Wembley.

Haway the Lads!

Brian McCreary

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Brian. Thank you for getting in touch.

There's no doubt that the number of points we've let slip during the latter stages of games this season has been costly, and had we converted just a few of those draws into victories, we'd be right on the tails of Leeds and Sheffield United instead of scrambling to try and make up ground.

At the time, they might've felt insignificant but when you get to this stage of the season, with a limited amount of matches left, they do begin to look costly, even if we've also saved points towards the end of games as well.

Nevertheless, I'm not writing off our automatic promotion chances just yet. We have to get back to winning ways, starting against Hull City, and hope that the teams ahead of us drop points as well.

Is it likely? Perhaps not. Is it possible? Absolutely.

Dear Roker Report,

I wonder what you guys thought of the away end concourse at Leeds?

I thought it was really dangerous, with a single staircase for exit and entry and a narrow concourse for 3,000 fans? Add in only one set of toilets, and TV's and the bar intruding into the space and I felt more at risk than I have at a football match for ages.

It was particularly bad at half time with a real crush of people trying to get to the bar/ toilets and then back to their seats — obviously with people also trying to enjoy their drinks and watching the replays on the TV etc.

I hate to think what would've happened if there was an emergency evacuation for any reason.

I mentioned it to a steward and a PC and was met with apathetic responses.

Is it just me being a grumpy old git?

Ian Chester

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Ian. Thank you for your letter.

A friend of mine who was at the game on Monday night texted me at full time and described the away end at Elland Road as a 'throwback' and 'antiquated' — and I'm not sure he meant that in a positive sense.

It's a very old stadium that's had little redevelopment done, and judging by the TV pictures and images on social media, Sunderland's fans didn't exactly have great views, with support pillars appearing to obscure the on-field action.

Charming to some, I guess, but a pain in the backside for others.

Dear Roker Report,

A brutally disappointing result for the Lads after a brave, gutsy performance.

I predict that Leeds will win the Championship and struggle yet again in the Premier League. If the referee had awarded four minutes of extra time instead of five, we would've come away with a very hard-earned point. Fine margins!

So, what can we learn to take into the rest of the season and into the next one?

• Could we have been more careful with the ball during the brief periods we were in possession, especially during the second half?
• Were we guilty of giving away too many free kicks inside our own half, especially in the second half?
• Do we need to add a different kind of number nine to the squad?

It was good to see Anthony Patterson 'going long" but we need a target man such as a Charlie Wyke, Kevin Kyle or dare I suggest a Niall Quinn, who's capable of playing with his back to goal and giving us extra precious time to move out when we're under the cosh.

Wilson Isidor has been brilliant but he's not going to hold up the ball when we need to relieve the pressure, and neither is Eliezer Mayenda.

• Could we have put on Chris Mepham as a third centre half once Leeds introduced Pascal Struijk and Joe Rothwell?

It was obvious what they were going to do and they were allowed to do it very successfully.

Did anyone else spot Struijk's shove on Mayenda prior to him scoring the equaliser? He wouldn't have pushed Mepham over quite as easily.

• Back to my old gripe: do we lose the ball in midfield and wide areas more than we need to because of our 'inverted players'?

For example, would a right-footed right winger have attempted the tackle which Patrick Roberts committed for the free kick which led to Leeds' first goal? Would a naturally right-footed player have got his right leg around the opponent and made contact with the ball? Fine margins!

It occurs time after time to Jobe, Chris Rigg and of course Roberts. I'm not criticising them; I'm pointing out what I think is a weakness in the way we set the team up. I know other teams do it — particularly one or two at the top end of the Premier League — but they don't appear to lose possession as regularly as we do.

Last season, virtually the same Sunderland team was making a hash of it in the Championship and Leeds were a Premier League club.

They've come down with a load of cash and we were within eleven minutes of beating them.

We've come a long way. Now's the time to be honestly self-critical, attempt to put right and improve those elements of the team which need it and move forward once more. We aren't that far off being a very good, very mature team with a bunch of young lads wearing those red and white stripes.

I trust you've noticed that I'm writing this at 3:00am in the hope that once I've got it off my chest I'll go back to bed and go to sleep.

I think I've previously mentioned that a football-daft neighbour of mine says that being a football supporter is akin to suffering an illness!

Haway the Lads

Alan Jackson

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Alan. Thank you for getting in touch.

I'll address the points you've made in sequence, but I'd also highlight that last season, both Leeds and Sunderland were in the Championship, with Leeds getting to the playoff final, where they lost to Southampton, despite having the benefit of parachute payments from the 2022/2023 campaign.

On the way we approached things in the second half on Monday night, I do feel that it was all too rushed at times, and that we did make things easy for the hosts by conceding possession cheaply and gifting them opportunities from set pieces.

I would've loved to have seen the Lads build on the 0-1 lead and continue to press for a second goal, but we seemed to slip into a 'safety first' mindset, which ultimately proved costly.

I'm sure that sections of our fanbase would like us to add a 'classic' Championship number nine to the ranks — a big, strong and physical forward, but given the development of Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda, the thorny issue is where such a player would fit into the squad, and how much game time they'd get at Sunderland.

I was surprised that Chris Mepham wasn't brought on during Monday's game, as he would've certainly offered us greater security in the face of the Leeds bombardment via balls being played into the box. We defended manfully for much of the game, but it was obvious that we had nothing left in the tank by that stage.

I also don't think that the 'inverted players' issue was particularly problematic for us on Monday.

The challenge from Patrick Roberts was rash and could've been made by any Sunderland player. Instead, I think it was the longstanding issue of our weakness from set pieces (including the need for Anthony Patterson to be more commanding) that was our undoing.

Finally, I agree on the need for us to be self critical.

This has undoubtedly been a season of progress, but we're not a team without weaknesses and as the players continue to develop, they'll hopefully understand exactly what it takes to compete for the top two during a forty six-game season.

Dear Roker Report,

Close but no cigar, as our curse of giving away late goals from the 75th minute onwards strikes again.

Surely I can't be the only one who's seeing the pattern of why this keeps happening?

Régis Le Bris just delays far too long in making proactive substitutions, and by the time he does make them, the lads on the pitch are usually so physically and mentally shattered that inevitably they make mistakes.

It's happened far too often in matches to be a coincidence, and in my opinion this obvious fault means we have no chance of automatic promotion.

Putting fresher players on the pitch sooner will help those on the pitch by reducing workload, freshening up the team and reducing fatigue levels overall.

Monday night's game was a prime example of Le Bris' constant failure to manage the match situation unfolding in front of his eyes.

At least three of our players were running on empty by about the sixty-minute mark. The result was late tackles, sloppy passes and lost possession, resulting in us being constantly on the defensive during the second half.

To cap it all off, Le Bris then made reactive substitutions (late, as usual, and the wrong ones in my opinion), after Daniel Farke had proactively made subs of his own, resulting in two goals conceded by very tired players who'd been under pressure without respite for far too long.

His post-match interview left me both angry and lost for words, and the least he could've done was to hold his hands up and take the blame for the loss.

He just hasn't learnt anything from any of the previous matches where we've lost points because of his terrible lack of proactive decision making.

Unless he learns very quickly, I can only see a sorry end to his Sunderland managership in the months to come.

Chas Shergold

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Chas. Thank you for your letter.

I do understand the criticism of Régis Le Bris' tactical approach and his use of substitutions. I've often raised it myself as the 2024/2025 season has unfolded, but I can also see both sides of the argument.

On one hand, we're very hard to beat under Le Bris and we've rarely been outplayed in any of the games we've lost, but on the other hand, I do feel the balance has been tilted too far in favour of pragmatism as opposed to harnessing the talent we have at our disposal and taking the game to the opposition with real purpose.

At this stage of the season, I think it's time for the shackles to be loosened and for the Lads to be given greater license to play with freedom.

We're not going to close the gap on the top two by being cautious, and starting against Hull, I'd love to see us go out there and try and make a statement with a dominant display.

Dear Roker Report,

We're scared of doing the 'usual Sunderland' lunacy of looking good and then blowing it big style.

I don't blame fans for bad attendance; it's just that our mentality is so ingrained after too many years of failure that we automatically expect to fail.

It's the hope that's kept us going all this time. Keep the faith, as always.

John

Dear Roker Report,

Yet again, some fans are writing about empty seats and the attendance figures released by the club during the match. For crying out loud, give it a rest, as if this is all you have to moan about, the club is doing well.

If we have 38,000 fans at a match, it still means 10,000 empty seats, so as long as the attendance isn't given as 48,000, how do these fans know for certain that the figure given is incorrect? Leeds always looks full, as I believe it holds a lot less, and the amount of season tickets we've sold would fill their ground to near maximum.

At the Luton game, fans who sit near and around me weren't there but are on a Saturday. Do the moaners not think supporters may have work commitments and that may be a reason for some of the empty seats?

One of my pals was unable to attend as he was on night shift. Another, who sits in a different part of the ground, wasn't at the match because he had to be at work for 4:00am the next day.

None of us live near Sunderland.

If fans want to sit in the Premier Concourse, they should be allowed to, rather than be forced to sit in seats in the front rows just so it looks good for TV. I've sat in those seats and I hated the view as I kept thinking the players were closer to the opposition goal than they were. And no, my season ticket isn't in the Premier Concourse.

I always stay to the end of a match as I believe the team deserves our support for the full game and it's a great feeling when we score a goal in the last minute to secure a draw or win.

However, I appreciate some fans leave early but comments on here seem to think it's only our fans who do it.

They say it looks bad on TV as it's mentioned by commentators, which is strange, because the TV commentators and fans on here during and after the match never mentioned the Middlesbrough fans leaving in droves after we got the third goal in a game that they see as a derby.

I personally don't care how other teams decide on their attendance figures or what commentators say.

Peter Welsh

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, John and Peter. Thank you for getting in touch.

It's obvious that people have very strong views on the subject of our home attendances and following last week's game against Luton, it seems to have become a talking point once again.

The top and bottom of it is that fans who pay money for tickets have a right to leave games at whatever time they choose, even if by leaving early, they do run the risk of missing late drama. Everyone's personal circumstances are different, and I think that should be respected instead of criticised.

It's also fair to say that we're not the only club in English football for whom attendances are often a topic of discussion, but it does seem to be amplified when it comes to Sunderland.

I do believe that that the fluctuating figures at home are the result of a combination of factors, but I also don't feel there's an easy and all-encompassing solution, unfortunately.

Dear Roker Report,

Sunderland simply aren't good enough for promotion.

We throw away too many games when we seem to forget there are two halves to a football match.

We play one decent half then don't turn up for the other. I can't see us achieving promotion this season, even through the playoffs.

Ian Frame

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Ian. Thank you for your letter.

I do think that we can still mount a promotion challenge, albeit possibly through the playoffs as the top two now looks like a daunting task, but there are several issues we need to fix in order to give ourselves the best chance — including addressing our ongoing weakness from set pieces, which was ruthlessly exploited by Leeds on Monday.

Can we do it? Yes, I believe we can, but our margin for error is now razor thin and we can't afford to drop too many points from here on in.