Sunderland take on AS-Roma at the Estádio Municipal de Albufeira in Albufeira, Portugal. The game is scheduled for an early kick-off at 11am (BST). The Black Cats last game against Rangers was called off at half-time after a problem with the floodlights. Sunderland were in control and lead 1-0 at the break thanks to a back-post strike from Like O’Nien. New signing Jack Clarke is expected to feature in the starting 11 after joining up with the squad in Portugal on Saturday. Roma have a few familiar names with Tammy Abraham, Chris Smalling, Nemanja Matic and of course manager Jose Mourinho. Zeki Celik has become Jose Mourinho's third signing of the transfer window at Roma, joining from Lille for a reported €7million fee. Mourinho’s Giallorossi will be formidable opposition for Sunderland, having won the UEFA Europa Conference League back in May and finished 6th in the League. The Special One is all too familiar with Sunderland from his time in England, with the Wearsiders memorably ending his 77-match unbeaten home record in the Premier League when he was at Chelsea. Sunderland came from behind to secure a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge in 2014 with Mourinho’s post-match rant accruing him a £10,000 fine. Alex Neil: "I think what's important is that, we've got a model where we've got experienced lads who are there to help with the young lads that are coming through, the majority of our recruitment, certainly the ones who we're purchasing, are going to be ones where their best years are ahead of them. "It's then my job to try and develop those players, and get them the game time they need. Equally, we've got to be successful in the same sentence and that's not an easy balance to strike. But, we'll do our best to do that, and we were successful with it last year." "He's (Rob Ballard) big, strong, athletic, he covers the space well, equally, he can get up and compete. He also uses the ball pretty well, so, what's there not to like?" Jose Mourinho: "blah blah blah” Live Stream: Sunderland are offering a streaming pass for £7.50 for UK and overseas fans by clicking here. The game against Roma is only available to watch online and not through cable, Freeview or terrestrial television. My two pence: I have a work meeting at 10:30 and will miss the kick-off but I'm sure someone can post the teams / provide updates for the first half. Roma are a good team and won their last friendly match 5-0, I'll be happy if we play well and avoid a heavy defeat. I'm going for a 2-2 draw. Ha’way the Lads
Hard to measure yourself against a Mourinho lead Roma after being in league one for years isn't it. We did more than ok against Rangers so hopefully we'll do alright.
cheers again RTB... it's a friendly it's against a very good/strong team it's a jose side 90 minutes in the legs and anything less than a sound thrashing and the lads will have done well, keep it down to 1 or 2 goals and i will be a happy chappy.
More fitness work, score isn't important in my eyes. It all about the fitness and the lads getting back into the swing of things. Great thread as always @RTB, thank you
Getting minutes in legs is more important than the result, as long as we don't end up with the Norway Ladies result then I'll accept that, no injuries please. HTL.
Great post again RTB. Big bridge to cross this one, but you never know, we looked, as usual, very well organised against Rangers, and against all odds we might just unsettle them and sneak a surprise win . OaU
Superb again @RTB Thanks. Great experience for the lads, interesting to see how we cope with the step up in quality and how we deal with those conditions.
Roma are a couple of weeks behind in their preparations/fitness wise so I’d like to think we gave them a real good game.
Brill RTB. Thankyou . Great experience for the boys , I’ll not be bothered about a loss. A couple of days to reminisce about the Anglo-Italian trophy - remember them games ?
Great gesture from the club. Luckily I will be able to relax and enjoy the game, hoping for a good display and workout for the lads. Narrow loss and I would be happy.
The battle between the Special One and Mourinho will be interesting ... ... I'm expecting Neil to play a 2 1 2 3 2 formation with a rush goalie and next goal the winner when it gets dark or his mam shouts him in
Working in the office tomorrow so won't be able to watch this one unfortunately. Hopefully another good performance and nee injuries. HTL
Roma squad: Keepers: Rui Patricio, Svilar, Boer. Defenders: Smalling, Kumbulla, Ibanez, Mancini, Karsdorp, Celik, Vina, Spinazzola, Calafiori, Tripi. Midfielders: Pellegrini, Matic, Cristante, Bove, Veretout, Zalewski, Darboe, Faticanti, Ivkovic. Strikers: Abraham, Zaniolo, Shomurodov, Carles Perez, El Shaarawy, Felix, Volpato
