Sunderland kick-off the 2020/21 season with a Carabao Cup first round tie against League One rivals Hull City on Saturday, September 5th. The Black Cats are then due to play Aston Villa U23s in an EFL Trophy game the following midweek, with the League One campaign then scheduled to get under way with a home game against Bristol Rovers on Saturday, 12th September. Grant McCann’s side reached the second round of the cup competition last term, beating Tranmere Rovers 3-0 in Round One ahead of a penalty shoot-out defeat at the hands of Preston North End following a 2-2 draw at Deepdale. Sunderland, meanwhile, progressed to Round Four in 2019/20 – beating Accrington Stanley, Rochdale and Sheffield United – before losing out to Oxford United on penalties to miss out on a place in the last eight. Phil Parkinson: “Aiden (McGeady) has come back and has been training with the U23s. I want to focus on the group that is here." “I don't want to block the pathway of our young players. We've got some good young players and I think it is time for the Elliot Embleton’s and the Dan Neil's of this world to step up to the plate and be a part of our first-team squad." “Aiden trained with the U23s last week but unfortunately pulled his calf, which means that he will now be unable to train for a period of time.” Grant McCann: “There's a real buzz since we've come back," “Everyone knows what went wrong last season and we want to try and put it right and have a good season, a run in one of the cups and see if we can go far in those. We want to have an aggressive run in the EFL Trophy." “There's going to be a lot of games this season and that's what we want. We want a busy schedule, a season where we're competing for the league, playing cup games and making sure everyone enjoys it." “Last season we were hit from pillar to post from January onwards, now we need to turn a corner, change the culture and make sure we embrace the challenges of winning, that's a big thing for me.” Prutton predicts: meh Match Appointments: Referee: THOMAS BRAMALL Assistant Referees: Mark Cunliffe and Joe Simpson Fourth Official: Martin Woods Team Line ups Sunderland: Burge, O’Nien, Flanagan, Wright, Willis, Hume, Power, Scowen, Neil, Maguire, Grigg. Subs: Patterson, McLaughlin, Feeney, Dobson, Embleton, Gooch, Diamond, Wyke Injured: McGeady, Embleton Hull City: Ingram, Coyle, Arthur, de Wijs, Burke, Smallwood, Honeyman, Docherty, Samuelsen, Eaves, Magennis. Subs: Long, Batty, Elder, Greaves, Wilks, Scott Injured: tbc Betting Odds: Home 11/10 Away 23/10 Draw 23/10 My two pence: After 6 months without any real football Sunderland take on Hull City in the first round of the Carabao Cup (aka the League Cup) Our main priority has to be getting out of this league, but it would be nice to get off to a winning start at home so I'm going for a 1-0 home win. For those new to this forum - the team selection is pure guesswork and will be updated once announced. Just seen this on the safc website: Streaming passes for SAFC’s Carabao Cup clash Hull City are also now on sale for £10. Please note, this game will be available to stream for UK-based supporters only. https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Ha’way the Lads
Good thread again RTB so off we go again, I'll settle for anything that's a home win but obviously the more comfortable the better so 3-0 is completely acceptable.
Really hope Neil gets a start and Embelton if fit. I fear Flannigan will be in defence which worries me.
Lads to win. Really good to see the RTB match thread back an all. I'm getting all excited for the season now.
Like your team RTB and great to have your match thread back, we need to win our first home game, in fact we need to win them all and why not. OaU Didnt know we had two Dobsons
Yep, nice to see your match threads again @RTB . Never like seeing us lose but the priority has got to be promotion this season, so plenty of young uns given a run out hopefully. That said, lets win the cup and get promotion as champions. HA'WAY THE LADS MACKEMS ATTACKEM No prediction from me for fear of being a jinx. Just hope we win .
So happy to see a match day thread. Wouldn’t give a **** about this game if it wasn’t a season opener. I’m going 1-0 Grigg. Will be a **** game.
Hope not, but fear you may be right, he has talked up players before, then ignored them, he needs to change the record.
Not all the youngsters. Play it like our last meaningful friendly for match fitness. No injuries please.
