Sunderland welcome Alex Neil’s Stoke City to the Stadium of Light in the Championship Last time out Sunderland lost at Coventry and Stoke lost at home to Brighton in the FA Cup. Sunderland started well at Coventry but failed to take their chances, Coventry capitalised on some poor refereeing decisions to lead at half-time. The Sky Blues extended their lead before Amad pulled back a well taken consolation goal. Tony Mowbray confirmed that Dennis Cirkin was absent from the matchday squad for the trip to Coventry City due to lasting effects of a concussion. The left-back was not considered for selection and will be continuously monitored by the Club's medical staff as the necessary assessments are carried out. Gooch and Huggins are back training this week but Embleton, Stewart & Evans remain unavailable due to injury. Stoke manager Alex Neil returns to the Stadium of light for the first time since his dramatic decision to leave the Black Cats six games into the Championship campaign. A much changed Stoke side lost 1-0 at home to Brighton in the FA Cup on Tuesday, the Potters are 17th, nine points clear of the relegation zone. Tony Mowbray: "I watched Stoke City the other night and I thought they played really aggressively and on the front foot against a really top team. Yet they made nine changes so that gives you an idea of the intent that is coming at the weekend. "When they make nine changes, that suggests they are thinking more about league points than cup competitions. "Alex obviously has the history of getting the club back to the Championship so it will be an interesting one at the weekend, an intense football match I am sure. "For Alex, I am not sure whether he is looking forward to it but he will just want his team to reflect how he wants them to be. For us, we have got our own targets. "We lost a couple of games last week so we need to get back to winning ways so I am sure it will be a very good football match. "The opposition manager is irrelevant to what happens on the pitch. We have to find a way to come out on top but they will be very determined to pick up points. "They are a very attritional team from what I’ve seen. They get the ball forward early. They have always been a difficult, hard-working, honest team. Get the ball in the box, ask questions, run hard. "They’ve got good athleticism and it will be a tough game for us but there are no easy games in this division." Alex Neil: "In terms of how I left, people will attach their own narrative to that," he said. "The one thing I'll say about Sunderland is that I feel extremely privileged to have been given the opportunity to manage that club. "We had great success there in terms of winning at Wembley and I loved my time there. It was a great time in my career. "I remember it fondly, people will have their own opinion on differing things but I don't think anyone knows all the variables attached to it and I'm certainly not going to get involved in that." "It'll be a tough game, they've got good players," Neil said. "They've got good momentum, when you gain a promotion. In football you're only ever going one way or another. They're a team that... dropping down the leagues is obviously a painful experience but when you strip it back to the bricks and then you can build, sometimes that foundation is then solid. "They've got some really talented players, matchwinners at the top end of the pitch. Technicians who can look after the ball and hurt you at any moment, that's the threat they bring. "I know a lot about them but the fact is, when you're capable of cutting inside and sticking it in the top corner, whether I know about you or not you're still capable of doing it. We need to be aware of the threat and deal with it, and also hurt them going the other way. the game has got two sides to it, and if we do both sides well we'll give ourselves a great opportunity." Match Appointments: Referee: JEREMY SIMPSON Assistant Referees: James Wilson & Adrian Waters Fourth Official: Ben Toner Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-2-3-1) Patterson, Hume, Batth, Ballard, Alese, Neil, Michut, Roberts, Amad, Clarke, Gelhardt. Subs: Bass, O’Nien, Ba, Ekwah, Lihadji, Pritchard, Bennette Injured: Embleton, Stewart, Evans, Cirkin Stoke City (4-2-3-1) Sarkic, Sterling, Wilmot, Jagielka, Fox, Smallbone, Pearson, Brown, Laurent, Celina, Gayle. Subs: Bonham, Clucas, Baker, Tymon, Thompson, Taylor, Lowe Injured: Powell. Tuanzebe Betting Odds: Sunderland 5/4 Stoke 11/5 Draw 23/10 Prutton Predicts: 1-0 My two pence: A tough week with two away defeats after an energy draining run of games. With no midweek game this week, Tony Mowbray has more time to work on tactics and figure out how to best use the talented squad of young players that he inherited from Alex Neil. I will always appreciate the work that Alex Neil did on turning our season around after Lee Johnson left and of course leading us to that play-off final win at Wembley. But I really want the players to show him exactly what he is missing out on when he decided to cash in and walked out on us. I’m hoping for a good performance and 100% commitment from all of the squad who worked with him. As Millwall showed, - you only need one good shot on target to beat this lot. I’m going for a 1-0 home win Live Stream: https://safc.com/news/team-news/live-video (Overseas fans) Ha’way the Lads
Tough game, they did OK in the cup game against Brighton imo. I think we will edge it 2-1 with Joffy and Ballard getting the goals. Great stuff RTB as always, much appreciated. Makes the weekend seem a lot closer when these threads pop up.
Great thread as always RTB. Thank you for your efforts. Difficult game, a big home win would be great but I’d just take a win at the minute and send the snake back home pointless. Confidence may be a little fragile after the last couple of games so hopefully get off to a fast start and build on that. Be nice to get things back on track. Keep the faith lads and lasses.
I fancy us to tear them apart we’ve had a little rest and we’ve got an amazing group of lads hawaaaaaay.
I just thought 'I wonder if the match thread is up', clicked on and 'woo hoo' Great thread mate, another cracker and the weekend starts here. I'm up from Mansfield for this and really can't wait, staying over so a few drinks to celebrate the 3-0 win. After a week of rest, massages and coaching the lads will be right up for this. I don't think either team will try any harder for the sake of Neil and we're a better team than Stoke. Looks like being 40,000 plus and the team seem to respond to big crowds now ... ... Ha'way the Lads!!!
Love to mate, we'll be outside the museum if the weather's OK. Otherwise the Vaux Taproom, behind the McDonalds in the Tesco car park
Great thread RTB -as always I think we will win I think it will be a tight game I think either a 1-0 or a 2-1 to the lads Hawaaaaaaaaay
They seem to have quite a few recent games where they score 0 ... ... if they repeat that we'll win imo. I have a good feeling.
cheers again RTB... after a couple of not so good games i feel free to post early again...don't really care who it is we just need to get back to winning games, some dreadful officials again did not help so we must be due a fair one. think the lads needed that break, have not been able to change the starting 11 too much and i guess it really showed...they will be ready for this.
Any old win to get us back to winning ways, hope the crowds reaction to our old manager doesn't distract our players from putting them to the sword. Great thread RTB. HTL.
I like to think that our players just enjoy us making lots of noise ... ... I doubt they'll care if it's shouting at some Scottish trespasser.
Think we'll be up for this one. They will try to bully us But think TM will have learned a few things last couple of weeks. Not normally confident but fancy a good win.
We need to play clever with future referees. Our captain needs to calmly speak to them and point out the timewasting. Also the cheating and how much the other team crowds the officials at absolutely every decision barking for cards. Not forgetting how much time is taken at their free kicks etc, and how the other team attempt to delay our own free kicks. I'd make it clear that if the referee awards us a free kick, and an opponent kicks the ball away, it should be a booking. Under the laws of the game, if a free kick, corner kick or throw in is awarded the opposition have no right to touch the ball. Get them telt ffs!!!
