Roker Rapport Podcast

Aye after a short but some might say blessed period where their editor lost his hearing and everyone lost their shit (it was peaceful my end at least) the lads returned to talk about how much they hate these breaks, before sort of contradicting themselves a bit whilst trying to look back on the last few fixtures with a little bit of perspective and of course ahead to December. What's the crack? Club before country - Have we mentioned how much we hate not just international breaks, but international fixtures? Aye that hasn't changed at all. Safe to say reaction not just to Coventry, which the lads discuss a fair bit here, but just to the last few draws has cast a bit of a shadow on our achievements so far; Are Gav and Chris as concerned? Does this say more about the rising expectations that come with our position in the league? The Coventry draw was definitely a situation where two points were lost, but is it a sign of anything significant besides just being a bit too relaxed coming back out and a few slices of luck for them in that second half? Injuries - Apparently Romaine Mundle is looking at a while out and Browne won't be available for a little while either so which players would be looking to take advantage of this? Ahead of Millwall and the puzzle presented to Regis Le Bris given Jobe Bellingham, Trai Hume and Patrick Roberts are suspended.. what are we expecting Regis to do? Will he actually look at a different formation and setup? Would he consider a switch to three at the back? Luckily it's not up to us like…All this and more! Ha'way the Lads! #SAFC #EFL #EFLChampionship 

The Lads ground a point away from home against a physical but ultimately toothless QPR as we saw Jobe Bellingham given a straight red and Sunderland fail to score for the first time this season! What's the crack? Still top, just the three points separates us from Leeds but Régis Le Bris has a challenge on his hands and there's a distinct possibility he's genuinely loving the chance to solve this puzzle. We're serious too, the man loves a challenge. Wasn't our finest performance of the season by some margin but was it really our worst? Shit happens; Bellingham accepted the red with grace after a clumsy challenge in the second half to reduce us to ten men, but he's mint and we love him so aye. The Chris Rigg scare is over (we think) and RLB stated he'd be back in training this coming week so that's a relief, but just in case we're without everyone but Dan Neil by Preston, who do we think we'll bring in and how do we approach it?We're playing too many away games here like but is it better to get them out of the way early? Chin up Jobe. Ha'way the Lads!#SAFC #EFL #EFLChampionship #SkyBetChampionship

Our Gav and Martin return to talk all about the win over Oxford and what the last three wins might mean for the club, look at our match tomorrow against QPR at Loftus Road and basically just... praise these lads. Endless praise aye. What's the crack? How good have we been since returning from the international break? We remain FIVE POINTS CLEAR at the top of the Championship and if we're not careful we might end up in a promotion race... WILSONNNN; He keeps scoring, he keeps smiling and Mayenda is returning but will the latter get a look in currently? JOBE; The better Bellingham just keeps getting better aye. How do we keep hold of him without promotion? Or Riggy for that matter? If at first you don't succeed, Trai, Trai again; Hume is finding his feet again and Patrick Roberts seems in a decent mood. RLB and injury; He's calm ahead of QPR and quite pleased with the Oxford result, but Reg has a few injury headaches and a lot more to prove in the division this season. Patto out? Aye it looks like it. Can Moore do a decent cover job until he returns? Looking at QPR away, trying not to get carried away and so much more! Ha'way the Lads! #SAFC #EFLChampionship #EFL #SkyBetChampionship

The lads only just got the chance to sit down to quickly react to yesterday's awkwardly timed game; as Sunderland took all three points from Hull to take us back to the TOP OF THE LEAGUE MAN HAWAAAAAY! Also stopping to preview (sort of) our trip to Kenilworth Road as we face Luton on Wednesday night! What's the crack? Aye it's a quick one and Gav and Chris managed somehow to stick to that... He tore up Russia, he started out in France! He came to Sunderland to make the mackems dance! When he gets the ball you know he's gonna score... his name is WILSON! WILSON ISIDOR! So were we lucky or not there? Did the ref assist or are the Hull fans being dramatic? How class is Mepham man? Got a few lads waiting to come back but it may be too soon for them to face Luton; how do we feel about the madness coming? Score predictions for Wednesday night, Gav forgets stuff, Chris remembers stuff and we all lived happily ever after. The end.Ha'way the Lads! #SAFC #EFL #EFLChampionship #skybetchampionship

Why wait until late Saturday night you ask? Well why get us to play on Sunday at 3pm? Nobody really knows. Regardless, our Gav and Martin sat down to talk about Sunderland's visit to Hull tomorrow/today and basically just thank our lucky stars we're no longer playing Parkyball.What's the crack? First and foremost the lads get straight down to trying to establish the sort of game we'll see tomorrow against an unstable but still dangerous Hull City; Football is back aye, everyone else is in a state and we don't seem to be. Nice isn't it. How do we think we'll line up, not just tomorrow, but looking ahead at the coming fixture pile up? Are we going to need to rotate for a few weeks? Just how class are things at Sunlun right now? The lads are really feeling it. How long can this last… How far have we come in a short space of time? All this and more! Ha'way the Lads! #SAFC #EFL #EFLChampionship

After witnessing one of the funniest goals ever conceded by any keeper at the Stadium of Light, Gav and Chris sat down to reflect on that, thank the gods of the internet for live reaction footage, and just laugh at the misfortune of others. What's the crack? Divot blame it on the pitch man, we just had it done; The lads launch straight into that goal. What did we make of the performance on Friday; where we evenly matched with a still very expensive Leeds Utd side? Another game of two halves/three thirds; Was the flow even?  RIGGY; The wunderkind strikes again with another goal to his name. What a lad eh. Was that Cirkin's best game in the last three? So aye we sit top of the table with two weeks of pointless internationals to get through, but nobody can take the throne yet. How do we feel? The lads will return with a Q&A to answer all your questions soonish…All this and more! Ha'way the Lads!#SAFC #EFL #EFLChampionship

Gav and Chris sat down yesterday to discuss all things Sunderland following the win over Derby County on Tuesday night, and ahead of our clash with Leeds tonight! What's the crack? Sunderland are the league leaders currently, but with Burnley playing tomorrow afternoon and ourselves facing Leeds this evening (before the international break) will it last another few hours or a couple more weeks?Chris asks if Gav's and the wider fan's expectations have risen since the start of the season; are we where we expected us to be? WILSONNNN; Bless him he's so happy man...JOBE; What a fucking goal. What a lad. What a player he's been so far this season. Le Regis Le Bris Standards; He's never too happy with a win and his honesty is refreshing without being damaging, so do the lads agree with his assessment of the win over Derby? The lads review the last win and wander off into a bit chat about the quality we have waiting in the wings; All this and more! Ha'way the Lads! #SAFC #EFLChampionship #EFL

So we lost. Yous wanna fight about it? Come on I’m walking here! Bada bing. But seriously we did lose after Dan Neil lost his mind and brought a lad down for no good reason, so our Gav and Martin sat down to talk about it and lightly preview the upcoming fixture with Derby at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday.What's the crack? Just can't stand losing a game like that. It stings. What did the lads make of that first half performance? Besides of course it being shite aye.WILSON IS A DOOR; Aye the happiest Sunlun player since Luke O'Nien bagged his first goal for the club, so what did we make of his first start overall? That Dan Neil challenge and the apology that followed; We were comfortable at the time. What was he thinking man? Another bounce needed as we head into the game against newly promoted Derby County on Tuesday night, so with Ballard and Mayenda fit, and given the short recovery period between fixtures, what changes do we think Reg will make? All this and more! Ha'way the Lads!#SAFC #EFL #EFLChampionship