Looking online at the plan it looks like it will be a good crowd, hopefully there is a nice positive atmosphere and we win
It's looking like the crowd will be around 45,000 on Saturday, so I hope that everyone is right up for the fight..
43k+ would be a great effort The numbers will count for nothing though if there are a lot of whingers in the crowd, who just wait for an excuse to hurl some abuse
my concern aswell mate, home is nothing like wembley, man u away, hull away or anything like our true support, the moment the school kids start anti-mag chanting next to us in the south i'm laying in get behind the lads man!
Crystal Palace have lost a bit of momentum in the last few weeks and one point from their last three games means they are back in trouble a bit at the bottom. I can see the Eagles digging in to make it as difficult as possible for Sunderland and I can just see Tony Pulis's side nicking the win. There are not a lot of goals in this Black Cats side, which is their big problem, especially if Palace sit back and defend, which is what think they will do. This is a crucial time for Gus Poyet and his players. They have got games in hand on the teams around them but have slipped back into the relegation zone while they have been playing in the cups. Sunderland's games in hand are West Brom at home, Manchester City away and Liverpool away. I look at those fixtures and think they would be happy with three points out of nine, which would lift them out of the relegation zone but keep them in trouble. It is going to be touch and go whether they stay up. Lawro's prediction: 0-1
It's an update for the match thread. Go look in the op, I add it so people have the choice of checking back on the op or it's here in the posts. No wonder nobody wants out to do with you.
There is a danger of what Lawrenson says coming true. I.see a very similar game to Villa and Norwich at home where they'll sit deep and knock the ball long to Chamahc, they have Ince and Bolasie who could cause our full backs a head ache. I think Gus has to be bold with his selection and substitutions. I recall him getting it wrong in one of those games where I think he took Altidore off for Fletcher when he should have gone two up top and took a midfielder off. Hoping there's a positive atmosphere and not an anxious one as that effects the players.
Agreed - Think it'll be a more footballing side he'll play with Borini up top similar to the cup final. Not sure though. I think we always say "Let's make a noise at the stadium" but when the nerves are jangling like they are it's so difficult to make too much noise! I just hope we can manage a win - a couple of goals in the first 20 minutes will settle the crowd down and make an atmosphere - but if it's 0-0 after 20-25 minutes it will be very edgy.
That's what Pulis will be telling his players, keep it tight for the first twenty and the crowd will start to get nervous and impatient. If have to be sharp off the blocks to get the crowd fired up, this could literally go anyway. An early goal and a pumped up crowd I.could honestly see us putting 3 or 4 past them. This is Giaccherini's game to prove his worth.
IT was THE chance for Sunderland to send the Capital One Cup final into extra time. When Marcos Alonso’s knockdown fell into the path of Steven Fletcher on the edge of the Manchester City six-yard box, it was crying out for the Sunderland substitute to unleash a swinger with his weaker right foot. Instead, Fletcher was caught in two minds and the ball bounced harmlessly off him and behind for a goal-kick. That 89th-minute spurned opportunity at Wembley was a moment which could have left Fletcher haunted for weeks, months and beyond. But the Scotland international is more philosophical; insisting it was only when he watched replays that he realised the quality of the chance. Fletcher told the Echo: “I think other people were talking about it more than me. “I wasn’t going to shoot, I was going to cross it. “But then obviously, when I’ve seen it back, I should have shot. “It’s just one of those things.” Sunderland’s future, rather than their past, holds far more prominence in Fletcher’s thoughts, with the Black Cats facing a crucial outing in the relegation battle against fifth-bottom Crystal Palace tomorrow. After suffering defeat in the FA Cup quarter-final at Hull last weekend, Sunderland now know that they have a dozen remaining games to save their Premier League status. And the chance to leapfrog Palace is a pivotal step for Gus Poyet’s side, as they look to beat one of their relegation rivals at the Stadium of Light for only the second time this season. “We can focus 100 per cent on the league now,” said Fletcher. “The boys know what’s ahead of them. “We need to put the Hull result behind us, look to the Premier League and win some games. “The Palace game is massive for us. We all know that. “I’d say the Palace game is as big as the final just now. “We obviously need to win; especially at home against one of the teams around us. “We always seem to perform better against the so-called bigger teams, but we need to start picking up points against the teams in or around us.”
He had ample time to control and pick his spot. How can someone go from a tidy finisher to lost in the 6 yard box? Still baffled by his form.
When your confident you don't think you just do it. When you have doubt or low confidence you take that extra touch or take that extra second. The perfect examples are his goal away to Fulham last year and then his miss against Villa at home this season. pretty much the same through ball and position. Similarly with Altidore against the mags, if his confidence was high he'd have just slotted it past krul, instead he wanted that extra touch.
Spot on Parker (we're in agreement a lot recently! Wonders will never cease) Don;t forget pressure as well - we all get on with our jobs (well I do) with occasionall pressure from my boss - Not from 30000+ "bosses". If I was sat creating training programmes for 30000 people I may feel a little more intimdated than I do by the lass that manages me who occasionally gets on my case to get things finished in time but rarely has to as I'm pretty good at what I do Oh - and he's wrong in that comment above - Palace game is far bigger than the league cup final
