Roker Rapport Podcast

Let's be honest it could've easily been 5 or 6 for young Tommy Watson but our Jack Clarke regen decided to let Stoke off a little bit on Saturday by scoring just the two of his first senior goals for the club. Maybe he's saving some for our visitors on Tuesday night? What's the crack? We won a game for the first time in what feels like forever, so another one this week will do us nicely, cheers Reg. A brace for a brilliant young talent: he's not really flying under any radars here is Tommy. Especially not announcing himself on Sky repeatedly. Just how many goals could we have won that game by exactly? Should Mayenda get more of a chance midweek or does Connolly have a shout for a place? Is Patrick Roberts just misunderstood? Are people not seeing what he offers us or is he not offering enough of what we need? How much rotation will we see from RLB on Tuesday when we face a Bristol City side with a decent away record... Who starts in that back line and who gets dropped? Does Luke O'Nien make way for Ballard and Mepham or does Ballard sit the game out? Will this decision mean anything longer term? Martin goes full ragebait, Gav has some plugs for you and the lads try to find something significant to complain about. Aye. All this and more. Once again - please and only if you can - donate to our annual SCSK Christmas fundraiser by clicking on this link or heading over to the Roker Report site for more info! If you can't donate then a share will do! Thank you! #EFL #SAFC #EFLChampionship #SoupKitchen24

Well, it's been a bit of a week - you don't know the half of it - but it's not all doom and gloom as the Lads look almost optimistically ahead to the visit of Stoke to Sunderland following a disappointing but promising performance at Bramall Lane. What's the crack? Three games against Stoke in just over five weeks, starting on Saturday... this is football 'eritage. Despite losing on Friday we looked pretty good, so surely that sets us up nicely for Stoke, no?Tommy Watson is hitting his stride, but Paddy needs an arm around him...With Mepham banned, the defence needs a re-shuffle, but we're otherwise fine... so how much do we really need to change? Will Cirkin start on the bench or will Alese let him rest a little longer? Does Régis need to loosen the reins slightly in order to free us up at the top end of the pitch? Stoke have been in canny enough form themselves, but the lads still fancy our chances to get back to winning ways...All this and more. Oh... and make sure you donate to the SCSK Christmas fundraiser 2024 by clicking on this here link or heading over to the Roker Report site for more info! HAWAY THE LADS! #EFL #SAFC #EFLChampionship #SoupKitchen24

Join Gav and Chris as they got together on the full time whistle after a long old game to try and dissect another Sunderland draw at Millwall - where do things stand as we head into the West Brom game on Tuesday? What's the crack? Another draw aye; we'd probably have taken it before the game, just not in those circumstances… Tired legs and tired minds; could we have done better to see the game out?All comes down to those moments; There are actually positives to that performance aye?Where does that leave us going into a rare home fixture against fellow draw specialists West Bromwich Albion; Will it be another point each or will the curse be broken? Jobe, Hume and Roberts will be back which are huge positives, so does Mayenda start on the wing again or does Patrick slot straight back in? Do we go back to Mepham and O'Nien in the centre or did Ballard stake enough of a claim? All this and more. Ha'way the Lads! #SAFC #EFL #EFLChampionship #SkyBetChampionship

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