Sunderland welcome Norwich to the Stadium of Light in the Championship. Last time out Sunderland lost at Leicester and Norwich lost at home to Middlesbrough. Sunderland were without Bradley Dack (groin) and Adil Aouchiche (hamstring) on Tuesday night as they both picked up injuries against Stoke. The Black Cats played well against Leicester but conceded another free header from a corner and despite having more shots they lost 1-0 to the league leaders. Norwich's latest defeat came courtesy of a Sam Greenwood strike just after half-time and an stoppage-time second from Samuel Silvera as Boro took the points, despite Jon Rowe's 99th-minute goal halving the deficit. Norwich keeper Angus Gunn is out until the end of November. Tony Mowbray: "We believed that we could come here and win this game. Unfortunately, we missed some really good chances, as they did. "Patterson made two good saves that hit the post, I get that. We are playing against top-quality players with probably a Premier League budget and we have a team that is really young. "I asked them to go challenge themselves really, and if they want to play in the Premier League some day, to go and see how they got on against these lads - who a lot of them have got lots of Premier League appearances. "And I thought we competed really well, but probably lacked the composure required at the top end of the pitch to give us maybe what we deserved in the game." David Wagner: "I have to make sure I'm focused on how I can get players' confidence back and keep clean sheets," "We can't get affected by the difficult period we have - we looked affected confidence-wise and we have to get over this hard period, name what went wrong, and make sure we stick together." "We are conceding too many goals - that's something we have to solve. We don't look confident in possession," "The goals we conceded were not down to a tactical approach. It was individual mistakes and our decision-making was wrong - this can't happen." "Everyone spoke about our start, now it's the opposite - that's how football is, it can change quickly and this is what we have to work on." Match Appointments: Referee: ANTHONY BACKHOUSE Assistant Referees: Paul Hodgkinson & Blake Antrobus Fourth Official: Simon Mather Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-2-3-1) Patterson, Cirkin, Ballard, O’Nien, Hume, Ekwah, Neil, Clarke, Prichard, Roberts, Rusyn. Subs: Bishop, Triantis, Seelt, Huggins, Rigg, Ba, Jobe, Hemir, Bennette. Injured: Evans, Alese, Matete, Mayenda, Pembele, Dack, Aouchiche. Norwich (4-2-3-1) Long, Stacey, Duffy, Gibson, Giannoulis, Gomes Sara, McLean, Rowe, Núñez, Hernández, Idah Subs: Sainz, Gibbs, Fassnacht, Placheta, Batth, Forshaw, Hwang Ui-jo, Fisher, Ansen Injured: Gunn, Barnes, Sargent, Sorenson, Hanley Betting Odds: Sunderland 2/1 Norwich 7/2 Draw 18/5 Prutton Predicts: 2-1 My two pence: It’s great to have Dan Neil back in the side and we put on a decent show at Leicester but just couldn’t find the back of the net. Hopefully Tony gives one of the other strikers a chance and we can return to winning ways against a Canaries side who seem to be conceding lots at the moment. I’m going for a 3-1 home win Live Stream: This game is available to overseas fans https://safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Ha’way the Lads
Rusyn cant speak English so cant play. Their supporter on a pre match thing sounds suicidal, 0-0 Joke 3 -0 to the lads
I cant get my head round this for a couple of reasons. What does it matter if he can or cant speak English, football is a universal language and many players play for clubs without being able to communicate, the same as some managers manage teams with an interpreter . Also why did we invest so much time and money on him if we had no intention of playing him until he learns the language? If hes good enough to get called up for Ukraine, surely hes good enough to play infront of Burstow?
Has anyone thought the language thing might just be Mowbray using that to buy the lad time? Mowbray seems to really care for his players so I'm totally prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. It might only be a matter of weeks before he turns into the hero that Ekwah and Ballard soon became ... ... lets not build this up into a stick to beat Mowbray with. Haway Sunderland, back to normal, a good performance and a cracking win.
Great thread as always @RTB I'd like to see Ruysn start and us to try a few more longer balls for him to chase and get them on the back foot. Feels like months since we had a home game and can't wait
We seem to have the upper hand over these in the main result wise. We're still playing more than ok despite recent results whereas Norwich seem to have fallen off a cliff somewhat so this night be a Good time to play them. Home win HTL.
The Gaffer provides an injury update Sunderland are back on home soil this Saturday as they welcome Norwich City to the Stadium of Light. The Lads will be looking to return to winning ways after three straight league defeats. Dennis Cirkin will be pushing for a starting spot after coming on as a substitute and playing the final 30 minutes against Leicester City. Bradley Dack and Eliezer Mayenda have both resumed full training, while Jewison Bennette is available following international duty. Tony Mowbray will be without Adil Aouchiche who has picked up a minor muscle injury. Aji Alese, Corry Evans, Timothée Pembélé and Jay Matete remain out as they continue to recover from their respective injuries. Mowbray said: “I hope I don't sit here every week and moan about the injuries, but we've got some pretty good players out who are on their way back so it will help us. “Dennis played 30 minutes against Leicester, and he helped the balance of the team with a natural left foot playing on the left side of the pitch.”
RTB these threads dont half give me a pick up mate. You are a gent. I am a bit fed up with all the grief Mowbray gets for the forward selections. He is the bloke who sees what they do in training not us. Unlike most I see a real player in Burstow. My challenge would be to critics is do Roberts and Clarke play with him or not. To me not, they have become used to playing without and doing it all. Clarke does it well, Roberts less so. I would pick Ba over Roberts, who despite his real skill is ineffective at the minute. The language thing is real in my opinion. If you have ever played you will know communication is critical. He is on a long term deal for a reason, but Mowbray has said he may well throw him in. Whether it is this game I dont know. I wont be punching the wall if it is Burstow, but will be if the wide lads dont threaten the touchline. Many wont want to remember this but the one thing Johnson changed when he came in was McGeady hitting the early cross for Wyke to get across his man. This is what number 9s want. I would consider Huggins for Hume personally. Huggins is a greater forward threat and if Ba plays they can cover eavh other. We really do need extra width at home in my opinion, because when teams bank up width is their enemy. Rigg showed some rare talent at Leicester. Would he be a wildcard as a 10. At some point he needs to be given his head, he is so ludicrously gifted. Anyway, I still have maximum faith in these lads and out gaffer. Haway the lads.
Back to normal this week. Back to winning form. 6-2. TM will stick Hemir and Rusyn in and a bigman little man will work. It has before I believe. As per the norm brilliant & thank you RTB.
Fancy us to bounce back on Saturday, I've gone 2-1 in the prediction league but I think it will be more comfortable than that scoreline would suggest. Need a bit more from Burstow up top imo, needs to be first to the ball in front of his man and be strong to lay it off. I think Cirkin comes back in at LB and Huggins drops out.
Some great points as always I agree that Roberts isn't quite doing it at the moment in terms of end product but he did play well against Leicester. If the wingers are told to get crosses into the box then I'd prefer to have Hemir up front as he scored a few headers in the pre-season games. He would also be handy defending corners. Rusyn looked pretty quick in the U21 game that I watched but he looks about the same height as Jewi.
A rare matchday attendance from me at this one, down with the bairns and picking my dad up and taking him too. Really looking forward to it, never know when the last matchday with my dad and the bairns will be so try and enjoy each moment. Hopefully tons more to come like! 4-1 the lads Onien hat trick in injury time
Sorry RTB, thought in my head another brilliant thread thanks but didn't write it! Thank you mate, top effort as ever
Nah not buying it at all mate, it’s a **** excuse. I moved to holland and played semi pro and didn’t speak a word but I didn’t have to! You point and shout it’s ****ing football not a conversation. Struggled with team talks but the manager wrote on the white board what he wanted from me and it was sound. If the lads not ready why’s he on the bench?
Has to be 3 points and I think we will do these hopefully with a change of personnel to avoid some more injuries.
No offence but this is the EFL Championship and, as I said ... ... I think Mowbray is using it as a reason because he doesn't want to put the player under pressure with the real reason.
none taken was just just an example of the language barrier being a load of ****e. If he’s no intention of playing him makes even less sense sticking him on the bench.
I don't believe it's the whole of the reason but I'd say it's part of it ... ... even some of the English speaking players seem to struggle with basic instructions about positioning, marking and kicking the ball into the net
