Sunderland travel to Cheltenham in the Skybet League One. Last time out Sunderland lost at home to Doncaster and Cheltenham drew at Wimbledon. Following the sacking of head coach Lee Johnson, the Black Cats suffered a humiliating defeat at the Stadium of Light as bottom team Doncaster won 2-1 in front of more than 38,000 fans. Interim coach Mike Dodds put his faith in the team that faced Bolton with five new signings on the bench. Bailey Wright is expected to miss this game due to injury again, but new signings, Jay Matete and Jermain Defoe, could be in line to start after making their debuts off the bench against Doncaster Rovers on Saturday. Mike Dodds and Michael Proctor will remain in temporary charge of Sunderland’s first-team for the clash against Cheltenham unless a managerial appointment is made before Tuesday. Cheltenham Town were denied a first win in 11 by a late Wimbledon leveller at Plough Lane. Alfie May's brace put the Robins ahead at half-time after Ayoub Assal's opener for the home side. Cheltenham had to defend for most of the second period, but they held out until the 80th minute when substitute Aaron Cosgrave netted his first goal for the club to ensure that the spoils were shared. Kristjaan Speakman: "At the minute we’re going through our process and we have to be respectful to the candidates within that process. We have to be respectful that for the fans and the club we have to make the right appointment. "At the moment we’re speaking to all of the people within the shortlist, looking at the pros and cons, sitting down with the board and the executive team, and making a decision about our next step.” Mike Dodds: "We decided not to include Arby based on the fact that we had Trai, who is a defender, on the bench and that we had the shape-change with Winchester in mind" "We didn't feel that we needed another defender on the bench. "Arby has been magnificent, he has been working with me with the U23s and he has been a proper pro. "It was a really tough decision and a really tough conversation for me to have in terms of not picking him in the squad. "We wanted to have more attacking options with Patrick Roberts there (on the bench). "It's one of those - you live and die by the sword and we wanted those attacking options. "I'm in the hotseat, so I will take that criticism." Michael Duff: "We need to stop just hoping that we are going to win games" “In the 12 games, we’ve taken the lead seven times and a poor team doesn’t take the lead in nine games. Stop hoping that you are going to win a game, stick to what we ask you to do, take responsibility and they’ll be all right. There were moments. We go 1-0 down and all of a sudden they start doing their jobs properly again.” “I don’t think that it’s an accident when we end up taking the lead again. There was a 20-25 minutes spell when we were good. The second half we ended up having to change shape and we’ve had to do it a few times because it was one-way traffic.” Match Appointments: Referee: DARREN DRYSDALE Assistant Referees: Thomas Harty and Joe Clark Fourth Official: Trevor Kettle Team Line ups Sunderland: Hoffmann, Cirkin, Doyle, Batth, Hume, Evans, Matete, Pritchard, Roberts, Stewart, Clarke Subs: Patterson, Xhemajli, Winchester, Neil, Dajaku, Gooch, Defoe Injured: Willis, Huggins, McGeady, O’Nien, Broadhead, Wright Cheltenham: (3-5-2) Evans, Raglan, Pollock, Boyle; Blair, Sercombe, Bonds, Wright, Hutchinson; Etete, May Subs: Freestone, Williams, Flinders, A Ramsey, Colkett Injured: Nlundulu, Brown Betting Odds: Sunderland 21/20 Cheltenham 23/10 Draw 5/2 My two pence: Well – I wasn’t expecting that. I thought the players would go all out to show that the previous game was a bad day, but that first half was almost a carbon copy of what they did at Bolton. The second half was an improvement, but we’ve lost our scoring touch and are conceding too many goals. The players have shown that they can do better, but their confidence seems to have disappeared completely. Hopefully the interim coaches will use some of the new players, and I’m going for a cautious 1-1 draw. Live Stream: https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Ha’way the Lads
I will save my vote until tomorrow night. As mention above, if it’s Dodds we will get beat, but if it’s Keane we will win.
After the last week frankly I can’t be arsed - after 60+ years of supporting this club you would think I would be immune to situations like this, last week showed I’m not so different tack warranted, hence my opening statement. Expecting f**k all changing, another embarrassing result. Great post RTB - just don’t know how you do it week in week out.
Who’s this “Hume” you have in the squad? Can’t be any good… Been desperate for a right back for weeks and we can’t have actually had one… surely? (Awesome thread @RTB as always)
At times like this I question my own sanity -it's the hope that one day we'll get it right. We have played some great football this season but it's all about being consistent, even during games, we hardly ever play well for the 90 minutes. Obviously in between the good games there has some absolute dross too.
Aye if it's Dodds it'll be the same team and most likely the same result. He might have seen the wisdom of having a CB on the bench however, it's a difficult concept to grasp but I think he can do it. If we've got Keane for it then yeah we'll win.
Another top notch match thread if only the team put as much effort in. We have to bounce back Tuesday and get things back on track
One thing is clear, we need wins and we won't get that with caution and tippy-tappying along the back line. Our skill rests with players like Pritchard, Defoe, Stewart, Clarke, Roberts ... ... so lets get the ball up to them quickly and allow them to get attempts on goal. Whoever picks the team I'd say those players are good enough to beat Cheltenham and the away support will let them know, on what's a tight little ground, what they think. They'll get good support, as always, but there'll be no hiding place if they don't put in the effort they should. Our players seemed overawed by the occasion, and size of the club, against Doncaster which lead to a good question from Mrs Smug. "If of those players had switched clubs before kick off would the result have been the same?" Doncaster played with no pressure on them which wouldn't have been the case if they were wearing red & white stripes ... ... perhaps the players we can attract to L1 can't cope with the pressure of the SOL in front of PL crowds. Whatever the case I'm going for a 4-0 win for Sunderland because the players won't risk the wrath of the away support. I still have a few spares in the away section, and some home as well, if anyone is in need.
If it’s Dodds and get goes with the same team, he’s desperate to be fired. Still not 100% on the Keane thing personally. I be don’t know if he’s got the right mindset nowadays. If it is him, hope I’m wrong (as you know I’ll show my support no matter who it is!)
This is the scariest thing as a SAFC fan fir me. If the away support are losing faith, we are in trouble. I’ve followed SAFC all over the country before I had a family. Home abd away fir 11 seasons before my daughter was born. Despite some abject and drab stuff, away support just got behind the team.
