It reminds me of Ally McCoist who says 'I'm telling you now' ... ... at the start of every other sentence
My suggested team: Patto Cirkin Alese/Ballard Mepham Johnson Watson L09 Neil Rigg Mayenda Isidor Not ideal by any means but think keep the shape, add L09 into midfield for physicality, mayenda has played wide right before and might even be his best position, Johnson brings physicality to the defence which will be needed for Milwall, Watson in his best position.
Pure class as usual RTB. I am going to wait till after his presser to make a prediction, seems strange the silence on Browne & Mundle, could be a sly little masterstroke when they are named in the team on Saturday. I will miss the game due to a family commitment but will be keeping a close eye on my phone, had a few scrapes down Millwall over the years, an awful place with horrible fans.
Browne definitely has a broken leg. However got an feeling mundle hasn’t got a bad an injury as we thought might make the bench
https://substack.com/inbox/post/151653020?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true Key insights: Millwall are the most direct team in the league, with the longest Goal Kicks, fewest passes, a dependency on set pieces, and exceptional chance creation despite their low possession They heavily favour one flank, attacking down their right side 45% of the time, and targeting nearly all of their goal kicks towards the right wing 40% of their Expected Goals and 52% of their shots are from set pieces, with both the highest Shot Creating Actions from dead balls and shots inside the 6 yard box Jake Cooper, their left centre back, has the most shots in the team, the second most touches in the opposition box, and the third most shots on target. Millwall rank lowest in the league for Possession, Passes Attempted, Pass Completion % and Touches, but are 12th for touches in the penalty area. please log in to view this image
This is the point I made the other day and why the high xG doesn’t always look like chances their danger is set pieces. They create high xG because the ball gets whipped in and they’re good scoring chances. But open play they’re not as clever. They have two decent wingers with esse being one of the better wingers in the division. I think our full backs will cope. Same reason I’d opt for Onien fullback with Ballard and mepham is to deal with Jake cooper and their set piece threat because both of those are dominant in the air. also the reason I’m not sure why everyone’s so worried they’re looking at form on face value. They’ve been winning 1-0 and drew 1-1 with a poor Stoke side. Even in the wins they’ve not been a clear better side. we stop their set pieces their chances of scoring dwindle massively and we just have to nick a goal.
A couple of other snippets: So in summary; relegation-level ball possession, mid-table pressing, and playoff-level chance prevention. Sunderland’s opponents play aggressively against them, being the most fouled team in the league, whilst Millwall are very aggressive out of possession, committing the 6th most fouls in the Championship. Most of Sunderland’s fouls have been committed against Mundle (26) however, with Jobe 4th (17) and Roberts 5th (16) - but all three players are unavailable. Cirkin and Rigg are 2nd and 3rd respectively, with the Cirkin-Leonard battle on Sunderland’s left flank likely to be decisive in the match.
It’s more the point of, yes it can happen, but the view from said poster is very negative and basically saying we’re lucky to be where we are etc
The Millwall stat, I like the most, is that they rarely score more than one goal … … sitting back, against this lot isn’t going to work, score some goals Sunderland.
Thats a good shout imo., but not sure about Watson, yes brilliant going forward and a real goal threat but not seen him tracking back to often and this game could do him more harm than good . I would squeeze another defender in there somehow , somewhere.
Its a really good argument you make , but its risky, and I am really looking forward to seeing what starting 11 Reg will come up with, I am cautious by nature but a blistering start would definitely put a Black Cat among the Pigeons.
Great as always RTB really tough one this with all that’s going on,but chances for others to stand up and be counted and stake a claim. Would take a draw but hopefully we nick a win and keep going. Safe travels to all that’s going enjoy COME ON
