Roker Roundup: Dylan McGeouch opens up on his Sunderland future - could he leave this summer?

McGeouch discusses disappointing season

Speaking to The Herald in Scotland, Dylan McGeouch opened up about his time on Wearside thus far and has explained his disappointment over a lack of playing time.

The midfielder said that although he has had a few slight injuries, the main reason he has not been playing is simply down to not being selected by Jack Ross:

It has been stop-start campaign for me. I have been available for the majority of the games – mostly all of them – but I have only played a handful. I have had wee niggles, but I have just not had a lot of game time.

It has been tough and frustrating and that’s football. The manager can only pick 11 players and that is the way it goes.

The season has been disappointing, but I still think it was the right move at the time. I came down and the manager gave me a game initially.

It is disappointing that I have not played as much as I would have liked but it is something I will look at over the summer, see where my future is at and take it from there really. I am just going to go away over the summer and reassess things and see where we are.

I have chapped the manager’s door and asked why I am not playing. He understands my frustrations. I have spoken to him a few times and sometimes you are not going to be happy with what you hear, but you have to take it on the chin, keep your head up and keep training and playing and be available.

The Scotland international then went on to say that he does not regret his move to such a big club but understands that he needs to play and that has left him a big decision to make this summer:

I look at that too and at this stage last season I was kicking on and I made the decision to come down to Sunderland.

I did not get much game time and the way we played didn’t help as it is a tough league and it was not going to be pretty football all the time and that comes into play as well.

It is very disappointing but we go again and we move on.

But if I could turn the clock back I would still have made the same move. This is a big club, a great club and a massive club and you see the fans who have been up and down the country all season and it has been fantastic.

I have got to look at myself and my performances when I played. My biggest frustration is the lack of game time but I wouldn’t change anything.

Now I have a big decision to make in the summer. I have not given up hope of making it here with Sunderland.

I still believe that I can play a part in helping Sunderland be successful. I believed that all year and I feel that I can bring something to the team. I still strongly believe that.

The club will reassess and everybody will reassess things and we will see what happens over the summer and in pre-season to see whether we can kick on.

I am fit and I feel good and I feel that I can bring something to the table and the team and I expressed that to the manager, but he can only pick 18 players in his squad and unfortunately I was not one of them.

Will the former Celtic and Hibs man be plying his trade Wearside next season? We will have to wait and see.

Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images

Comolli on signing Henderson

With Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool set to face off in the Champions League final on Saturday and before the game, Damien Comolli has been speaking about the role he had in both club’s success.

During that interview with the Independent, Comolli discussed signing Jordan Henderson for Liverpool for a fee of £20 million, why they decided to sign the midfielder and revealed how the Reds hierarchy’s final words to him were about how much of a mistake he had made signing the current Liverpool captain:

It was a mix of four different factors. The first one: when we looked at his fitness data it was absolutely out of this world. That was very important, to know that he could match the intensity that physically Liverpool should play at. Secondly, when we looked at his technical and tactical data, he was doing things at Sunderland that were as good as some of the top midfielders in the Premier League.

The third aspect was live scouting, we all watched him, all came back very enthusiastic about what we saw. And the fourth aspect is the personality. We made a lot of enquiries about what type of individual he was, his behaviour, his obsession for improvement. They talk about marginal gains, with Jordan every day it is ‘how can I improve, how can I gain 5% of marginal gains?’.

The other aspect of his personality, when you spend a bit of time with him, you can straightaway tell about his leadership skills, his determination, his commitment. Everything you see on the pitch.

I remember the day I was sacked, the owners told me, Jordan Henderson what a massive mistake it was, that was about the only thing they told me.

I am obviously very pleased because Jordan played a key part to what is happening at Liverpoool.

The second leg of the semi-final [against Barcelona] is just typical Jordan Henderson. The energy he brought to the team, the determination, the commitment, refusing to give up, refusing to lose. So when you put everything together, we were convinced.

Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

Academy product on international call-up

After suffering from depression during the tail-end of his time with Sunderland, academy product James Talbot was rewarded for his stellar displays in the League of Ireland for Bohemians with a call up to the Irish national team.

The goalkeeper has been speaking in the turnaround in his career and discussed how within the last year he was playing at left-back in the Leinster Senior League to representing his country:

It’s an unbelievable turnaround from last year. Obviously I took a year out of the game, played about three or four months with Kickhams. To be honest, I wanted to break into their championship squad.

When Mick rang me my stomach turned, I couldn’t believe it, I was shocked, really. When I was told on the Saturday evening I didn’t sleep a wink, to be honest, maybe a few hours.

We trained on the Sunday. I was brutal here at training, dropping balls, my passing was off, it wasn’t like me, I was so nervous my legs were jelly, my legs were heavy from not sleeping, thinking, putting myself in scenarios in the squad.

But it’s good to be nervous, it’s going to be an experience I can hopefully thrive off.

Talbot also revealed how another academy product, John Egan, was quick to get in touch to offer him support:

Straight away he texted me and said, ‘I’ll look after you kid’. He’s a great lad.

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