Sunderland visit Plymouth in the Skybet League One. Last time out Sunderland beat Shrewsbury and Plymouth lost at Wycombe. Sunderland remain firmly in the play-off hunt and head to the South Coast to face fellow contenders Plymouth on Easter Monday in a game that could have major ramifications for both clubs in the race for a top six place. Alex Pritchard’s availability for Sunderland’s trip to Plymouth Argyle is still to be determined, with Neil set to make a late call on the midfielder’s inclusion. Thorben Hoffmann, Callum Doyle and Leon Dajaku are also doubts for the fixture, with all three unavailable for selection on Good Friday due to illness. Plymouth were unable to call upon captain Joe Edwards on Friday due to a foot injury, with James Bolton also set to miss out.19-goal top scorer Ryan Hardie has returned to training, though, and the striker could make his return to action against the Lads. Plymouth lost 2-0 away to Wycombe, and manager Steven Schumacher was particularly disappointed with the way that the side failed to deal with the physicality of Wycombe who play a very powerful game. They were undone twice on the counter attack, with Garath McCleary scoring two good goals. With another game against one of the play off rivals just days away, Steven is keen for his players to bounce back and show a positive reaction when Sunderland travel to Home Park on Monday. Alex Neil: "I didn't even celebrate the last goal because I was too disappointed." "What you've seen today is the best and the worst of us in one match. The first 40 minutes was as good and as clean as we have moved the ball all season. We moved it at real tempo and created a lot of problems for them, they couldn't really get near it, and they didn't have an answer for what we were trying to do, but then a sloppiness crept in about five minutes before half-time, too many people taking too many touches, complicating the game, trying to show everybody how good they are, and what happened was that they (Shrewsbury) started to get a bit of a sniff of the match and thought that they could get something out of it. They scored a goal that was disallowed, and I warned the players at half-time that they were going to have to win their battles, win the second balls, you are going to have to stop their momentum and get the next goal to kill the game. If we get the next goal it's done, and if they get the next goal it's game on, but we got beaten up for 20 minutes, and that's the be-all and end-all. It wasn't a structural problem, you could see at the end that we were totally dominant, the game hadn't changed, but what happened was that we didn't win enough first balls, we didn't win enough second balls, we got penned in and we didn't defend well enough. Steven Schumacher: “It was rubbish. The first half in particular, we didn’t compete, didn’t win any second balls, didn’t win any first contacts, and they were all over us. “We conceded two poor goals and were overpowered by them.” “There aren’t many surprises when you play Wycombe, you know how they’re going to play, so you have to match it, and we didn’t. “Today we got beaten by a side that were physically stronger and a side who wanted it more than us.” “Every time we have had a performance that has been below standard, and there haven’t been many of them, we always have a good reaction. “Against Sunderland on Monday is going to be tough because they’re a good team and are fighting for it, but we have to get the basics right and we have to react. Match Appointments: Referee: CARL BROOK Assistant Referees: Simon Shaw and Marvyn Amphlett Fourth Official: David Rock Team Line ups Sunderland: (4-2-3-1) Patterson; Cirkin, Wright, Batth, Winchester, O’Nien, Matete, Pritchard, Embleton, Clarke, Broadhead Subs: Burge, Xhemajli, Evans, Neil, Roberts, Gooch, Stewart Injured: Hoffmann, Doyle, Dajaku, Willis, Huggins, McGeady. Plymouth: (3-5-2) Cooper, Wilson, Scarr, Gillesphey, Sessegnon, Pereira Camará, Houghton, Mayor, Grant, Jephcott, Ennis. Subs : Broom, Randell, Burton, Law, Crichlow, Craske Injured: Garrick, Edwards, Bolton Betting Odds: Sunderland 8/5 Plymouth 8/5 Draw 23/10 My two pence: A great result on Good Friday, and it seems that we have now got a team that don’t stop fighting until the very end. After the latest set of results we find ourselves outside of the play-off positions once more, so if ever there was a must win game this is it. I’m going for a 2-1 away win Live on Sky Sports - not available on SAFSEE Ha’way the Lads
HA'WAY THE LADS MACKEMS ATTACKEM. Plymouth is a port city in Devon, southwest England. It’s known for its maritime heritage and historic Barbican district with narrow, cobbled streets. Sutton Harbour is home to the National Marine Aquarium, where sharks and rays glide in a deep tank. Also in the harbour are several marinas and a fish market, the Plymouth Fisheries. The Mayflower Steps are where the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for the New World in 1620. Famous People from Plymouth. Chris Martin, Coldplay. Rosie Huntington Whiteley. Wad. Sir Francis Drake, olde times explorer. Jennifer Saunders. Ab Fab and comic strip fame, married to Ade Edmonson. Damian Hirst. Arty farty bellend. Agatha Christie, poirot and miss Marple crap. Tom Daley. Bum hole diver.
RTB Got to win.... simple as.. Tough away game against a rival ahead of us in the league. Those heavy defeats earlier in the season are now hurting our GD and league position. Can we win... of course we can... but will we do it? We are probably the underdogs in this fixture.. Pritchard may be back, good news. Probably most famous moment... to help Nig out. Sir Francis Drake playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe, watching the Spanish Armada sail by.
We simply have to win, I will settle for another last minute winner, but would really prefer an easy afternoons viewing with 4 early goals and coasting by half time
Good point about the heavy defeats our goal difference could have been about 15 better if we just lost by one or two in them lot.
Great thread as always RTB. Still a lot can happen with other games also. A win would be great but not sure that a draw would be a disaster depending on other results of course. One big final push lads come on you can do it.
Thanka again RTB great thread and a great team you put up there that would do me in a game that is a case of must win, after last nights result. Its Now or Never, and its gonna be tight, but we have the strategy, and more importantly the strength in depth to see us through. OaU
Ha'way the Lads! I agree on your score prediction. If we have Pritchard back it would be a massive boost as well. I think he will go for Evans and Onien in midfield for experience. I would like us to revert to a back 4 as well.
Plymouth good at home but crap away. We can play decent anywhere. Going to be close but we need to edge it.
Draws fine a win would obviously be better but a draw is fine. Its a lot more must win for them than it is for us.
Another cracking thread mate. I think we'll win this game. Schumacher has taken a big risk calling his players out like that, smacks of panic imo. Neil was much more subtle and accepted some of the blame. Plymouth have a small squad and I think fatigue is setting in. They're picking up injuries because of that are may not have their top scorer and captain back on Monday. They're struggling for goals and I think they'll attack us which should allow us to play. I'm not convinced Matete and O'Nien are disciplined enough to play together and I'd rather we have Evans if Pritchard is fit. We can bypass the midfield more as Pritchard can win the ball higher and make good use of it. I'm going for 3-0 because I think we know how to defend now and can score goals from various sources Ha’way the Lads!!!
