I'd planned to be there, I think this will be a major turning point in our aspitlrations, but Mrs Smug says she has a case of Gastroenteritis. I'm not sure if that's an illness or some foreign booze but it means I'm stuck here. I hope everyone meeting up, or not, has a cracking day out and sings all the way home. I have some old mates, up from Mansfield, so would've loved to be here but really looking forward to the stream. Haway Sunderland, let's puff our chests out and put a marker down.
I know I keep repeating myself but this is a win win game for Sunderland. A defeat for either team would be demoralising especially Plymouth who lost pitifully at Ipswich and are now without their top scorer. If Oxford lose we'd be above them going into the game down there and would be under massive pressure. They both have difficult run ins. A draw would be the best result for us, in one way as they both drop two points ... ... but the worst because they both gain one and can console themselves with being undefeated.
Is Broadhead fit do we know. Really hoping he is and stays that way for the run in. Would give us another proper goal threat.
Massive, bigger than ben hur three point's required today, come on me bonnie lad's do it for the fan's.3-1, Haaawwwaaayyymmmaaannn.
This is what makes it so annoying, we’ve been way too inconsistent this season as Wigan we’re ****e when we played them. Somehow they are going to win the league.
We've beat them 3 times this season. It just goes to show how inconsistent we are compared to them in the league. When we play bad we get slaughtered from our opponents. When they play bad, they usually manage a draw at least. Weve been an absolute disgrace since the turn of the year.
Alex Neil has welcomed fans back to the Stadium of Light for Saturday's showdown with Gillingham, in his Red & White programme notes sponsored by Signature Truck & Van. Welcome back to the Stadium of Light for this afternoon’s Sky Bet League One fixture against Gillingham. I’d like to start by extending a warm welcome to Neil Harris and his team, and to the Gillingham supporters and officials that have travelled to Wearside for today's game. We had a good international break, working hard with the players when they were in whilst ensuring they were able to have a rest period to ensure they are refreshed ahead of the run-in. Over the past two months, I have seen natural signs of improvement and we return to action today unbeaten in six games. I spoke about clean sheets when I first walked through the door and that has certainly improved, but some of our performances at home haven’t been as good as I would have hoped. That is something we need to improve on and we are now at the stage of the season where there is no margin for error, so we know we need to make these next few games count and take out opportunities when they come. I’ve watched quite a few of Gillingham’s games this week – and I was at Accrington Stanley last weekend where they won – and they are very hard to beat and hard to break down. They are well organised and look to hit you in the transition and they are very direct in their play, but we know what is coming and we know that we are going to have to perform. The last thing we want in these remaining games is regrets, so we have to go out and throw caution to the wind and be courageous in the way we approach every game. Thank you for your support, Alex Neil
" ... we have to go out and throw caution to the wind" That's exactly what I was expecting. He could've done that at first and seen it all go wrong. It was brave to approach it the way he has imo.
I'm from the old school of football. Build from the back and get the team hard to score against then get the other side of it right. Under Johnson, we proved we could play football but Neil has now made us hard to beat
A manager like Di Canio would've come in, fired the players up and hoped the adrenalin lasted the season. Neil seems to believe it's better to create a solid base, build from there and create momentum for the run in. It's less exciting but may well work.
