Sunderland visit Home Park to face Plymouth in the Championship. Last time out Sunderland beat Portsmouth and Plymouth lost to Stoke Sunderland made two changes to the expected starting 11 with Dan Ballard replacing the injured Aji Alese and Alan Browne replacing the suspended Dan Neil. The Black Cats won their fourth league game in a row and have only conceded one goal. Dan Neil returns from his one match ban but may not reclaim his place in the starting eleven. Wilson Isidor, Poveda, Aleksic and Mepham are expected to be on the bench. Plymouth lost to a single goal against a Stoke side with an average age of 22 years and 11 months. The Pilgrims played well despite the defeat but are yet to win a game under Wayne Rooney and are currently third bottom with just 2 points from 12. A late goal from Million Manhoef gave former Pilgrims boss Steven Schumacher victory in his first game back at Home Park since he departed the club last year. Bali Mumba is expected to play at right back, Brendan Galloway is injured. Goalkeeper Hazard is to undergo ankle surgery. Regis le Bris: “The standards are getting better and better, it is not just a question of winning. We want to raise our level and we want to maintain the way we played before.” “We want to improve many elements of our game still, it is still fragile and even after four wins it is still possible to lose.” “Then we will need to keep that level and improve the mentality of the team. At the minute it is good so now we need to avoid relaxing.” Presser at 1pm Thursday : Wayne Rooney: “Errrmm” "I think we're improving: The players are understanding the roles I want from them and I think we've played the last three games with a consistency in terms of how we want to play." “Errrmm” "I think the players have taken in a lot of information and they've done it really well. "The first game was really disappointing, but since then there's been three really tight results." “Errrmm” "Going forward we are getting the ball into dangerous areas but players need to be in the right positions in the middle of the goal” “Errrmm” "If we are clinical and ruthless we win [against Stoke] and you could be sitting here with more points, but we haven't been clinical enough. “Errrmm” "There's quite a lot of positives but we have to get the final third right." Match Appointments Referee: JOHN BROOKS Assistant Referees: Neil Davies & Matthew Wilkes Fourth Official: Andy Davies Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-3-3) Patterson, Cirkin, Ballard, O’Nien, Hume, Browne, Rigg, Jobe, Mundle, Mayenda, Roberts Subs: Moore, Mepham, Hjelde, Neil, Aleksic, Poveda, Watson, Isidor, Rusyn. Injured: Huggins, Seelt, Alese, Abdullahi. Plymouth: (4-2-3-1) Grimshaw, Mumba, Gibson, Szűcs, Edwards (c), Randell, Houghton, Forshaw, Cissoko, Bundu, Gyabi, Obafemi, Whittaker, Hardie Subs: Bundu, Forshaw, Ogbeta, Obafemi, Pleguezuelo, Pálsson, Tijani, Wright. Injured: Galloway, Hazard Betting Odds: Sunderland 9/5 Plymouth 9/2 Draw 18/5 Prutton Predicts: meh My two pence: Another fantastic display at Portsmouth, another win but sadly no clean sheet. Plymouth are yet to win a game and lost 4-0 at Sheffield Wednesday on the opening day, however they have been improving steadily since that result. To be fair they played well against Stoke but failed to convert some great chances and eventually conceded a near post shot. However we are in confident mood and on a roll for a historic 5 in a row I’m going for a 2-0 away win. Live Stream: https://www.safc.com/live for overseas fans Ha’way the Lads
The big 3 is there for the taking this weekend. Normally always take a point on the road but these Rooney team look very very poor. I think Neil will be back in. Browne has been on international duty and Neil is captain.
Be interesting to see how many of the new lads make the squad. Imagine most are only joining in training tomorrow so may come too soon for some. Interesting selection choices in midfield for RLB
I’d be disappointed with any less but it’s nice knowing a draw would still have us in a great position after a cracking start. I fancy us though, strongly.
Can't wait for this, first away game of the season and we are flying expect a win. We will take some stopping if we get going imo
I think mepham n samed might be the only 2 Mepham knows the league and we don't have the depth at the back at the minute Samed has trained for the last 2 weeks so reckon he will be on the bench Aleksic been away since joining n because his English isn't great I don't think they'll rush him in Be interesting if either Adil n Ba make the bench
If they couldn't make the bench v Pompey when we had a bunch of kids there then I'd suggest they won't make it on Sat unless something has changed. Shame about Aouchiche as I think he's got something to offer. I know RLB said they left them behind in case a move materialised on Deadline Day, but I think they are way out of favour with him
Same as Portsmouth for me, quick start don't let them into their stride and shut the home support up and we 're more than capable of bringing home the bacon and send the sold out away end home happy for the long journey back to the NE. Great thread RTB HTL.
Thank you, thank you, thank you again. This window seems to have lasted half a season - so your match day post like an oasis in the Sahara. Like most l too am hoping that form & class will out and we return with all 3 pts. but won’t cry if it’s a draw. Going for a big 3 - 0 to the lads. KTF
Friday 13th September Hull City v Sheffield United 20.00 Saturday 14th September Leeds v Burnley 12:30 Millwall v Luton 12:30 By the time we kick off we could already be 5 points ahead of the three relegated teams and 8 points ahead by the end. This is the first really big decision for RLB imo, whether or not to bring Dan Neil back in. In my opinion it would've been an easier decision if Browne had directly replaced him, at Portsmouth, he didn't. Browne was better than Jobe in that higher position and Jobe was better than Neil in his position. That may have only have been on that day but it really worked well. The question is do you drop Jobe or do you drop Browne in what looks like a very similar game to Portsmouth. Incidentally the last time I drove alone, to an away game on my birthday, was Reading ... ... a game we won 3-0 with Patrick Roberts smashing in two goals. So that's exactly my exact prediction for this game, Ha'way the Lads!!!
Feels like the last game was years ago, can't wait. Love the way Regis talks about the team he's always pushing them forwards. Neil will be back in the team and deservedly so, but no doubt he'll have had a bollocking about picking up stupid cards.
If Jobe is fit i'd go with; Patterson Hume Ballard O'Nien Cirkin Rigg Neil Jobe Roberts Mayenda Mundle Bench has the potential to be very strong with the likes of Browne, Mepham, Samed and Isidor all on it. Jobe, in my opinion, has been our best player this season. So important to what we are doing in the midfield areas so if he's fit he has to start. Nobody does what he does in midfield for us. We should be winning this game and I think we will. Plymouth have scored just 2 goals in the league, they have the lowest xG in the league with just 1.8, have conceded 7 and allowed 9.2 xG against which is the joint most in the league. Whereas we are 4th for the most xG and we've conceded the least amount in the league. If we play to our high standards we should win. Their danger players are the two wingers, Cissoko and Whittaker. Both love to cut in and shoot, especially Whittaker. 0-2 win. Mundle in the first half and Isidor from the bench.
There's nothing like a tactical analysis, an evaluation of the key players and a prediction based on form, momentum and capability ... ... and there's nothing like that in your post. Yet somehow my favourite so far
