Sunderland travel to MK Dons in League One Last time out Sunderland beat Port Vale and MK Dons drew with Bolton Lee Johnson's side will make their third trip to Stadium MK in 2021 full of confidence after a pair of 2-1 victories in league and cup to ensure the perfect start to the season for the Black Cats. But Sunderland will be wary of a dangerous MK Dons side on their own patch. The Black Cat’s have signed Dennis Cirkin from Tottenham and the 19 year old could go straight into the first team. He could face his former Tottenham youth team mate Troy Parrott playing for the Dons. Carl Winchester limped off against Wigan and missed out on the game with Port Vale in mid-week and could be a concern for Lee Johnson, as is Elliot Embleton. Josh Hawkes will be eager to break into the first team squad after scoring his first senior goal on Tuesday evening. MK Dons recently lost their manager Russell Martin to Swansea after making a number of pre-season signings including Mo Eisa from Peterborough. Former Ipswich coach Liam Manning took charge of MK Dons on Friday. Caretaker manager Dean Lewington went through a full range of emotions in the Dons' opening-day draw last weekend, with the last of those surely frustration following Bolton's last-gasp equaliser. But while the Dons are up and running, getting their first victory on the board is next on the agenda, although that's easier said than done against a Sunderland side they've beaten just once in seven previous meetings. Midfielder Hiram Boateng is pushing to start after scoring off the bench at Bolton, but the Dons aren't likely to make many changes to the side that secured a 3-3 draw. Ethan Robson is expected to start. Lee Johnson: "It's a bit of a dilemma for me, going into the weekend, you always want to get eyes on somebody first - he is still a young lad who hasn't made a senior appearance, and that's something to be considered. "Also, the opposition's shape needs to be considered, and there's a lot of detail that goes into the way we play. "In an ideal world, I'd give him six games lead-up to watch it, to experience it, to travel, to train, to learn the philosophy, but we are in a situation where we might have to fast-track him. "Within that, there might be potential mistakes and what we can't do is hammer him and bamboozle him with science - we have to allow him to go out and play. "We have to protect him a little bit. He has had Covid three or four weeks ago so a little bit of time is probably needed to bed him in, but at the same time we can manage the minutes within the league because we have Dan Neil who has done extremely well at left-back." Liam Manning: “Firstly, it’s a privilege to be named Head Coach of MK Dons. I am thankful to the Chairman and Liam Sweeting for providing me with this exciting opportunity. “CFG (City Football Group) were terrific for me and provided me a chance to go to New York and then to become Head Coach at Lommel - ultimately, though, this was too good of an opportunity for me. “This is an ambitious Football Club that believes in playing a certain way - a way that the fans are used to and demand and one that I believe in too. We also have a squad full of quality and exciting players, who I can’t wait to get to work with. “Me and my family are going to move here to live within half an hour of the area so that we can integrate ourselves into the community. That is important to me because, as we learnt last season, football is for the fans.” “I am delighted to be your Head Coach – I am looking forward to getting started.” Match Appointments: Referee: JAMES BELL Assistant Referees: Mark Wilson & Garry Maskell Fourth Official: Michael Chard Team Line ups Sunderland: Burge; Cirkin, Doyle, Flannagan, Winchester; Evans, Embleton, O’Nien; McGeady, Stewart, Gooch. Subs: Patterson, Younger, Pritchard, Neil, Diamond, O’Brien, Hawkes Injured: Xhemajli, Willis, (Hume) MK Dons: Walker, Jules, O’Hora, Darling; Harvie, Robson, Twine, O’Reilley, Watson; Boateng, Eisa. Subs: Brown, Baldwin, Freeman, Ravizzoli, Bird, Ilunga, Parrott Injured: none Betting Odds: Sunderland 23/20 MKD 11/5 Draw 23/10 My two pence: A big game for me, as this is my first ‘live’ game for what seems a very long time. That just happened to be MKD away on the 18th Jan 2020 and as I recall a certain Lynden Gooch scored with a great strike into the top corner and the crowd went wild. It will be great to see the new players in action and I just can't wait. Given recent results I’m going for a 2-1 away win Live stream only available to overseas fans https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Ha’way the Lads
Another 2-1 win for the Lads imo. Another for Stewart and Embleton to open his account. Ha'way the Wizards.
Class again RTB, hope all those going have a great day out and get home safe and sound, I'm working so it's phone app updates for me. If Bolton can put three past them then I expect us to do the business, any win will do for me.HTL
Cracking thread as always thanks RTB. Hope embleton is fit. Looking forward to this one good memories of last visit there and also looking forward to catching up with friends who I haven’t seen for 15 months or so. Weather looks canny . Difficult game but I will go for a close away win. Happy days and safe journey everyone.
I only managed to get to about 19mins. We 'stumbled across' Cirkin and then there is some patter about championship manager as if it's real life. Wise Men Say preview pod FWIW... https://aca.st/4d7147
Hasn’t made a single senior appearance? I genuinely thought we had signed the next Roberto Carlos the way some were going on. That aside, 1-1 draw I reckon. Wouldn’t be a bad result down there if I’m honest. Patterson has to start for me, if so, then I have hopes of a clean sheet. Having a good keeper will separate the wins from the draws this season.
How refreshing to have players coming who are excited to be here. Johnson has done well to shift the cliquey players like Jones. Maguire, Power, etc and start to change the culture. I honestly can't imagine Cirkin being pictured gorging in McDonalds or out on a Friday night.
Ha'way the 'process'. Win tomorrow and it will keep the noisy minority of whingers at bay for a bit longer.
HA'WWWWAY THE LADS MACKEMS ATTACKEM Another win tomorrow will be cracking, keep the momentum going and hopefully have a good run like we did last season before we cracked near the end. Cement a top spot early in the season and hopefully build on it. Coooooomon.
