Sunderland host Crewe in the Skybet League One Last time out Sunderland beat Fleetwood and Crewe lost to Portsmouth. The Black Cats moved up to 5th place after a poor performance, but a great result against the Cod Army, coming back from a goal down to win 3-1 with goals from Embleton, O’Nien and Clarke. Alex Pritchard has a twisted ankle and is unlikely to be available, Arbenit Xhemajli was a surprise inclusion on Tuesday night and could keep his place, whilst Luke O’Nien came off the bench to score after recovering from shoulder surgery and will be pushing for a start. Nathan Broadhead was rested, but should return at the weekend. Crewe lost 3-1 at home to Pompey, have now lost 9 of their last 10 games, and the Railwaymen are stranded at the bottom of the league, 8 points adrift of safety. Alexandra have been dealt a painful blow in their bid to stay in League One by the loss of injured striker Mikael Mandron. The Alex's top scorer has been ruled out for "an extended period" after suffering a "serious" knee injury a 1-0 defeat at Gillingham. Alex Neil: "I've been saying for the last few weeks that it doesn't matter what the game is, we want to subtract the performance from the result, and here the result was excellent, but the performance was extremely poor. We won't hide away from that, the lads know that. "We fell well short of our standards, but what we had to do was find a way in the second half to win the match and we did. "Teams who win titles and get promoted don't play well every week, but they find a way. Fortunately enough for us, we managed to do that, but to be honest I'll go home tonight and it feels like it's back to the drawing board for me. "I don't want to put a dampener on a win, but I don't take massive satisfaction from that at all." "At half time, I didn't even talk about the first half. I said 'put that to bed, this is how we fix it.' I changed the shape, played a 3-5-2 with wingers at wing-back, but we didn't stand up against their full backs so they have to come searching for them, and that leaves space in behind. "You can't legislate for some of the mistakes that we made in the first half, but what I'll say to the players is performances will dip and peak, and as long as you try to do what I ask you to do I've no issues. "Unfortunately, for 45 minutes we didn't reach near out standards, and the lads are very aware of that. The one thing that I said when I came here, and I've done it everywhere I've been, I'll risk losing a game to win it. "If it costs us matches, so be it, but with the group that we've got I believe that more often than not it'll fall in our favour. We went for it, we understand the dynamic and what we need and I will point out, but it won't always work." David Artell: “The first two minutes set the tone for that first half. You have to defend balls into your box. We didn’t do that three times tonight and got punished, it is as simple as that. The little nuances of knowing when to nudge someone to head the ball, knowing when to get hold of someone. “Chris Porter doesn’t get those chances. There was a ball at the back post that Josh Lundstram was about to stick in the goal and Mahlon Romeo headed it out for a corner. Great defending. We haven’t quite got that know how or nous yet in our players. “Two of the headers weren’t particularly clean headers, but they end up in our goals because of that little bit of experience of knowing when to step across someone, when to be tight, when to be off them in the box. All that kind of stuff, that is the difference. “We deserved the goal, without a shadow of a doubt, but at that time the game is already done and dusted.” Match Appointments: Referee: NEIL HAIR Assistant Referees: Bradley Hall and Richard Wigglesworth Fourth Official: Garreth Rhodes Team Line ups Sunderland: (4-2-3-1)Patterson; Cirkin, Wright, Xhemajli, Winchester, Matete, O’Nien, Broadhead, Clarke, Defoe, Stewart Subs: Hoffmann, Doyle, Hume, Neil, Embleton, Gooch, Roberts, Injured: Burge, Willis, Huggins, McGeady, Pritchard Crewe Alexandra: (3-5-2) Richards, Johnson, O'Riordan, Offord, Agyei, Murphy, Griffiths, Lowery, Lundstram, Porter, Long Subs: Jääskeläinen, Harper, Ainley, Finney, Sambou, Williams, Salisbury Injured: Mandron Betting Odds: Sunderland 1/3 Crewe 7/1 Draw 15/4 My two pence: An awful first half performance against Fleetwood, but we bounced back in the second half after some early changes to the formation. Hopefully we will start this game better and not gift them a goal. We have to win our home games as all of the other teams around us keep getting results. I still think that we will have far too much for Crewe to handle. I’m going for another 3-1 home win. Live Stream: (overseas fans) https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Ha’way the Lads
Yessss laaaaddddd, the matchday thread. Love it. I'd have Hume at RB and Winnie in Midfield. I'd have Onien in the 10 for Embo as well. Ha'way the Wizards. Enjoy your weekend everyone
Excellent thread and a good team although I'd say Clarke, Broadhead and Defoe would be slightly over confident. I'd guess most people, me included, would love Defoe to start and score but I think Broadhead will play central with Clarke and Gooch. Matete and O'Nien could be a fun act in the middle and give us the mobility and bite we've needed. Surely this is a game whereby we can win early, relax and get O'Nien and Broadhead off after sixty minutes so Defoe and Roberts can get a decent run. I'd even consider taking Stewart off if possible, we don't need any unnecessary injuries at this stage. We'll need to rotate a bit to reach and win the play-offs and the squad is really shaping up. I was at Crewe for our easy win and expecting the same on Saturday ... .. Haway the Lads, 4-0 and goals from four different players!!!
Crewe are garbage, we could’ve scored 7+ when we played them away from home earlier in the season. An early goal tomorrow would be perfect, at them from the off.
I love these match threads I'd like to see Djaku given a start on the wing, think his directness would help keep them pushed back. Going for a 3 nil win for us with goals from Stewart, Matete and Cirkin
I'd have Gooch in from the start, I know he frustrates but he keeps going and could be a handful for these. Great to have 09 back and would like to see him start as well. Broadhead and Stewart up front and don't give these any encouragement whatsoever and we could be relaxing by 4.30pm, HTL
Another masterpiece RTB, lovely. Feeling confident about Saturday. If we cant win this we dont deserve play offs, but I am sure we will. Good chance for the Neil to give other players a run out as well. Would love to see ONien start. Desperate to see Neil back in the side too, I am convinced if we are to go up he has to be in the 11. Doyle might be worth a start and let Xhemajli have a game out. Isnt it lovely to suddenly have options and I havent even mentioned Dajaku and Broadhead.
After the recent criticism I've watched Gooch specifically.to see what's happening. He'll quite often win the ball deep and start running, the commentary will say 'the ball goes to Gooch .... beats a man .... looks for support ... checks back ... goes inside ...' Either that or he goes down the line, throws the ball in and everyone but Stewart is still chugging up from the halfway line. I watched Rotherham recently and as soon as anyone has the ball over the halfway line there's a stampede into the box and other players supporting the man on the ball ... it works. I'm not saying we can't improve on Gooch but there's a reason every manager always goes back to him. He knows what many of the crowd think of him but he never lets his head drop and always wants the ball. It's up to players like Embleton and Neil to force him out of the team. Embleton's dead ball kicks have been really poor, if that was Gooch people would be livid.
I'm going for a 3-4-1-2.....Patterson,- Winnie,Wright,Arby - Gooch,O9, Matete,Cirkin - Neil - Clarke,Stewart. If the match goes our way,I'd like to see Hume come on for Gooch.
RTB All games from now on are must wins. For me same back 4 and keeper if all fit. A start for 09 instead of Evans? + Metete Clarke and Stewart start Then if Pritchard still out.. is Broadhead okay to start? Gooch, Embleton perhaps Roberts )if he can deliver an end product ) Defoe and Neil?
Great thread as ever going 4-0 I’d like to see Hume and O9 start and broadhead instead of embelton,I’d give O9 the armband and hope he drives us on we are lacking a leader,
Neil's pre-Crewe news ... https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/2022/march/crewe-alexandra/press-conference-crewe-home
Many thanks for yet another great thread RTB, I dont think our last performance was as bad as some suggested, the surprise was the form of Arby, no doubting his class but 2 games a week might be a big ask atm., nevertheless I would still go along with your first seven choices, its those three positions around Stewart which are the big headache. Whoever AN picks we should win this one so its OaU .
Was at the away fixture and once we were in the groove we looked like we could score at any time. I can't think much has changed, other than they are getting more desperate for points and are going to be under even more pressure at kick-off. We score a goal and they'll deflate like a pricked balloon. Mind you, my prediction skills are notoriously ****e, so don't read too much into that!
A point would do very little for Crewe’s survival hopes so I’m hoping they go for it looking for 3 points and we can pick them off. Ha’way the lads.
Cracking thread as always RTB. Another home win and hopefully a better performance than Tuesday night.
