Sunderland welcome Gillingham to the Stadium of Light in the Skybet League One. Last time out Sunderland beat Ipswich and Gillingham beat Crewe. Sunderland made up a few points on their promotion chasing rivals in mid-week with a hard-fought victory at Portman Road. Lee Johnson’s squad depth continues to improve, with Lynden Gooch returning after a positive COVID-19 test. Luke O’Nien was able to make another appearance, while Tom Flanagan and Will Grigg are expected to return soon. Bailey Wright is the main concern, coming off injured after receiving an elbow to the face against Ipswich. Wright had been lucky to avoid injury in the opening minutes of the game, when Kayden Jackson was shown a red card for a reckless challenge on the defender. Gillingham are currently in 12th place with 33 points from 24 games. Steve Evans side had an impressive 4-1 win against Crewe on Tuesday. Promising young goal keeper Joe Walsh has been rumoured to be joining QPR and didn’t play on Tuesday. Lee Johnson: “All wins are important, we want to make sure that we score more goals as well, we need the players to have fire in the belly and ice in the head, at the moment we have a lot of fire in the belly and at times we need to settle more.” “ I took Winch off at half-time because he had been booked and didn’t want to give the chance for the game to be evened up in any way.” “His (Bailey Wright) lips are really swollen and bleeding, but I don’t think it was anything higher – it was a bump in the mouth, rather than the head, so hopefully he will recover and be fine and there won’t be any concussion.” “Sometimes the entertainment suffers just because of how many games there are, it’s hard to be sharp as a tack when there is a game every three days, but we can’t complain because we have got a big squad, we have got a good squad, and there are a couple to come back in Grigg and Flanagan reasonably soon.” Steve Evans: “We just said to the guys in the dressing room that there is no better place in League One to go and play football than The Stadium of Light. We will go there full of confidence and looking forward to the challenge. “They will be another good team that we are coming up against - this league is full of them. These big teams are always a massive test for us but if we can play like this we don’t fear anybody. It’s about what we do." “Sunderland have got some fantastic players and they have got a bright new manager (Lee Johnson) who has already done great things at Bristol City. We know what we are up against. We will go there full of confidence that we can put a good performance on." “We played some good stuff when we lost 2-0 to them at Priestfield and we were a bit unlucky. It was in that period of games where we couldn’t even buy a win and a couple of performances deserved more that they got." “We will enjoy tonight first and then we will get up tomorrow morning to look at what Sunderland have done against Ipswich tonight, look at the reports and we will find a way to try and get three points at a tough place on Saturday.” Match Appointments: Referee: OLIVER LANGFORD Assistant Referees: Robert Merchant and Craig Taylor Fourth Official: Darren Drysdale Team Line ups Sunderland: Burge, Power, Wright, Willis, McFadzean, Winchester, Leadbitter, Scowen, McGeady, O’Brien, Wyke. Subs:Matthews, Sanderson, Embleton, O’Nien, Maguire, Gooch, Diamond. Injured: Xhemajli, Kimpioka, Hume, Flanagan, Grigg. Gillingham: Bonham, Jackson, Tucker, Cundy, Ogilvie, Dempsey, Slattery, Graham, Lee, O’Connor, Oliver. Subs: O'Keefe, Willock, McKenzie, Akinde, MacDonald, Johnson. Injured: Mellis, Samuel, Woods. Betting Odds: Home 4/7 Away 11/4 Draw 23/10 My two pence: Another tough game to watch on Tuesday but we won in the end so I’m not complaining. Charlie-the goat-Wyke continues on his scoring streak - so all is good. Gillingham have had some good results against the top teams. They are just above Plymouth so I’m not expecting an easy win. I’m going for a close 2-1 home win. Live stream £10 https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Ha’way the Lads
Top thread again RTB, think I'd bench Geads to give him a rest and put Gooch on instead, no prediction from me as I'm crap at it.
Always great to see the match thread RTB and yes another tough game in store, and yes another must win, we can and will do it imo. 3-1 OaU.
I'm confident for Saturday and going for a 2-1 win. Wyke and O'Brien Remember folks, it's a 1300hrs kick off
HA'WAY THE LADS MACKEMS ATTACKEM The distant disappointment from the Plymouth game has faded now. A mere blip me thinks rather than the ups and downs we've become accustomed to. Reading Jordan Willis saying the players are enjoying it and "starting to take on board and implement" what Lee Johnson is putting across, seeing the transformation of Charlie Wyke (second highest scorer and one off Majas record) and the young players stepping in, and most importantly, the improved results on the pitch. We're improving and on the up. Cooomon .......
These were the players that lined up against Crewe, our last game at home... please log in to view this image We had three new players in the line up, Olly Lee, who has played for us before, and scored two goals in our last game. Along with Callum Slattery and Robbie Cundy at CB. We had been pretty dire until the new lads came in, and I've been forever critical of our striker Vadaine Oliver. Our best two players are Jordan Graham, he will be attacking and pumping the balls into your box from the wings, and the other is Kyle Dempsey, complete workhorse and potential threat to you, when linking up with Graham. As I said earlier I've been ever critical of our striker Oliver, because despite the delivery from our best player Graham, Oliver moves about as quick as a donkey out the traps. Albeit he wins everything in the air. Graham, Demsey and Lee, will be the players you need to stop. They will be quick and run at you. Anything over the top will be aimed at Oliver. As highlighted in the OP, our keeper is rumoured to be linked with a move to QPR. I hasten to add he is NOT our first choice keeper, but a talented lad that has attracted attention within our youth. Anyother threat would be Jackson, he has a long throw, and they will be hitting the middle of your area. I've got this one down as a high scoring draw. Up until the new arrivals, I would have had us down as getting tanked. So a slight air of confidence on my part, after the Crewe game, who hadn't lost in ten, but it will only be our second game with this line-up (if chosen by the gaffer), so things could easily go very wrong for us.
I fancy us for three in a row, unless of course Cascarino has been fibbing about his age and is in reality a spritely twenty something year old, a shock last second addition to the Gillingham squad, back to repay the faith of Gills loyals.
RTB Of course I have ticked a home win! However what do I really think... hmm off the back of two 1-0 wins we should have confidence and momentum. Against that, we are Sunderland nothing is ever very easy.. Also yes we might score one goal, but it only takes one slip for the opposition to score 1 goal (hence we have lots of draws),or heaven forbid 2 goals. Atm whilst our defence is good we are struggling to score more than 1 goal. We need others than just Wyke to start hitting the back of the net, an improvement in the delivery of free kicks and corners will aid that. We will win more games rather than draws if we can do that.
thanks for that little insight, nice to see...be nice to see a really entertaining game but i feel it will come down to a bit of a 'slog it out' type game again. cheers again RTB... like i said in the last match thread i have given up on expecting great performances, there still are those little improvements across the team and at some point it will all fall into place, may be too early for that but we are picking points up and doing enough for a win so for now i am happy to accept that. think o'brien has been unlucky the past couple of games but his all round play has vastly improved, hoping he can grab himself a goal or two to give him a needed boost, gooch, for all his little faults is a welcome sight as he can be direct and always likely to grab a goal, o'nien is just happy to be off the leash again...might be just me but that lad epitomises what it should mean to be a footballer, again, far from a finished article but he would give 110% from his sick bed if he could...these three are the ones i feel can and will make a difference...winchester looks like he is going to need a few games to show his best but at times has already shown a nice cool head when needed and some useful touches on the ball.
RTB another cracking thread well done mate, and a mention in despatches for BRB nice insight in what to expect, you dont by any chance have the battle plans do you.
I have gone for the win due the the performances we have put in up to date, although still L1 performance are turned in, the skill level and desire to win is getting there now and i can see a marked difference from before. With the addition of a more accurate passer in an attacking midfield, coupled with a new goal scorer and the pace that is starting to appear I'm much happier the way things are panning out
The gaffers presser..... https://safc.com/news/team-news/2021/january/gillingham-h/press-conference-gillingham
I think Mcgeady looked a bit jaded on Tuesday so I'd rest him from the start. McFazdean scares the life out of me so I'd start Sanderson at left back. I'm hoping Johnson sets up a little more attacking and drops one of the cm's. I'd play Gooch advanced of Leadbitter and Winchester as he has the work rate to drop into a 3 if required and also to push on and play off the wide men and Wyke Burge Power Willis Wright Sanderson Winchester Leadbitter Diamond Gooch Obrien Wyke
I think he will get them as well. Also think the Grigg deal will go through tomorrow or Saturday. They don't normally quote numbers unless they are confident
hope its as we think away the 2 GGs or donkeys if you wish which leaves us with the last choice to go, who do you recon if he can get rid as he says he has spoken to the guys.
