Sunderland travel to Lincoln City in the Skybet League One Last time out Lincoln beat Shrewsbury and Sunderland beat Oldham. Lee Johnson fielded a strong Sunderland team for the game at Oldham and secured his first win as Sunderland manager. The Black cats have slipped down the League table after a poor run, with only one win in the last eight games. There were no further injury concerns after the Oldham game, Jordan Willis and Morgan Feeney returned to training this week. Lincoln City are in 2nd place behind League leaders Hull and have 32 points from 15 games. Michael Appleton made 6 changes for the Papa John’s Trophy game on Tuesday but the Imps strolled to a 4-1 victory at Shrewsbury. Men to watch are leading scorer Jorge Grant and winger Harry Anderson. Former Black Cat and club captain Liam Bridcutt is out injured. Lee Johnson: “I thought that he (Jack Diamond) was fantastic, He’s got mega-bucks of work to do, and he’s got to sleep with a futsal ball under his pillow because he needs to learn how to master the ball, but wow, he’s so powerful, direct and dynamic, and we need that in our team.” "We need that to create space for the footballers that can get in the pockets. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and Jack certainly made a very good one on me today.” "I’m really looking forward to working with him. At the moment Jack runs direct, almost at the middle of the legs of the defender, when what we want him to do is drag it a little bit, push it on his inside foot and race him down the outside.” “I thought that his overall game was good. Yes, sometimes his touch was a little bit hot potato, but actually when he had to protect the ball he did that really well.” “He needs to sleep with a futsal ball under his pillow and master those touches, but there’s a real good framework there to improve. He has a very good attitude as well.” Michael Appleton: Regarding the injuries which kept Lewis Montsma and James Jones out and whether or not they’ll be available to face Sunderland on Saturday “I am (confident). It was precautionary keeping them out of the group tonight. They were a little bit sore on Saturday and Sunday.” “Having had a look at them yesterday (Monday), there was no point in taking that risk. Hopefully by Thursday we can turn them round and get them ready for Saturday.” Has that performance given you some nice problems ahead of Sunderland? “I think so. There were a lot of positives. In the first half, I thought we were electric on the counter.” “When we won the ball back in our own half, I thought we were going to create a chance or score a goal. We were so unfortunate to be only 2-1 up (at half-time).” Match Appointments: Referee: CHARLES BREAKSPEAR Assistant Referees: Wayne Grunnill and Stephen Brown Fourth Official: Declan Bourne Team Line ups Sunderland: Burge, McFadzean, Sanderson, Wright, McLaughlin, Leadbitter, Scowen, Embleton, McGeady, Maguire, Diamond. Subs: Matthews, Flanagan, Dobson, Neil, Power, Wyke, Grigg Injured: Xhemajli, Kimpioka, Younger, O’Nien, Hume, Gooch Lincoln City: Palmer, Eyoma, Montsma, Walsh, Edun, Jones, Grant, McGrandles, Anderson, Hopper, Johnson. Subs: Melbourne, Scully, Archibald, Howarth, Gotts, Roughan, Long Injured: Bridcutt, Morton. Betting Odds: Home 9/5 Away 6/4 Draw 21/10 My two pence: A good result in mid-week, not a brilliant performance by any means but it seems like things are already changing on the pitch. Diamond and Patterson both caught the eye of Lee Johnson and he gave them both a mention in his post-match interview. It was good to see him have a word with all of our players at the end of the game, and he also spoke to most of the Oldham players. I’m going for a 2-2 draw. Live stream £10 https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Ha’way the Lads
Just a note that we are unbeaten away from home this season, how thats worked out I've no idea. Great thread again RTB but no prediction from me.
Great thread as usual RTB and a decent looking team up there for a change, only joking although this is a tough one I;m looking forward to it OaU.
Just purchased the stream. I'm optimistic and going for a 1-2 win. I think he will start Grigg, Maguire and McGeady up to and flannigen will partner wright at the back. HTL
The standard you have set for match day posts and maintained it... I voted a win for us. Wyke I presume will play with?
Took us for a draw but LJ has had a bit time with the squad now and I’m confident of a good display, don’t think we’ll see the best of the team till he gets them fitter but hoping for the 3 points.
Nicked this from Twitter but it's shows that Johnson did have an impact on our crossing against oldham.
Cracking thread as always. I’ve got a feeling the boss will have them up for this. That said Lincoln are going well so I would be quite happy with a draw. God that sounds dreadful happy with a draw at Lincoln. Sneak a win would be great for confidence.
Great thread as ever marra. Battling 2-1 loss, think it will take a few more games to get Johnson philosophy and style of play imprinted onto the current squad.
Going to be a tough game, but I'm hoping for a score draw against a good team. Their counter attacks could be our undoing, so I hope LJ has done his homework.
I'm not really expecting a win despite the managerial change. Johnson has only been in charge a week and I'm not expecting an immediate change in fortunes. However I'm fairly confident things will pick up in the near future. I've predicted a 2 0 defeat. I would like to see Grigg go in where it hurts for a change
Itll be interesting to see what happens against a team who are looking to attack and commit players forward. They are very good at home so I'm not expecting anything other than a defeat so for the first time this season I think a point would be a decent result.
I'd take a point all day if it came with further progress in performance....cant believe we are saying that about playing against Lincoln but that's where we are at!
I dreamed we won 3-0 so on that solid basis that's what I'll go for. My feeling is that it won't take long for Johnson to get his ideas across, I doubt it's overly complicated what he's telling them and he speaks very well. New manager bounce taking effect in this game I reckon now he's had a chance to shake Parky's cobwebs off.
Lee Johnson - Press Conference In full: https://safc.com/news/team-news/2020/december/lincoln-city/lincoln-presser
