Aye, there will be teams who just hoy it in there at every opportunity that would cause problems, Mowbray mentioned Cardiff and Milwall so looks like he has already identified those type of teams and sets us up accordingly. A back 3 of Ballard, Batth and Alese would all be over 6ft, plus if Stewart played that could be another option for those type of games, then have the electric midgets up front. Alternatively, will that type of 'lump it in there' team be able to catch us with our pace and movement without getting cards. Very rare teams have both, especially in the Championship
With Alese and Cirkin we have the option of alternating them each game which means they will be fresh as opposed to one of them playing every 3 or 4 days. We have the option of different formations with top players in every position. Not only that, every position has a very good backup, sometimes difficult to decide who is first choice. 3 right backs, all very good (when Huggins is back) Michut or Neil, Clarke or Bennette, all over we have excellent cover. Only Stewart and Patterson are guaranteed a start place. Simms and Amad cover for Ross although I don’t know much about Bass for Patterson. We can almost field 2 sides and both would be full of first choice players. Our injured list is all big first team players, Stewart, Cirkin, Ballard, Huggins and Simms yet we have great cover for them (or a different system for no strikers) What a good position we are in. By the way, it’s great to see a beaming Gooch celebrating with the young’uns, (the three Amigos’) When we start to let some leave and sell some of our players Wigan are going to get a very good team, I bet they’ve already got their eyes on Diamond.
I wanna see Alese at CB me. Him and Batth might be a lovely pair of we go with a 4. On the left of a 3 with Cirkin outside as a wing back could be a very denterò us pairing down that side.
Got a feeling he will go with a back 4 for Preston and get Clarke higher up the pitch with Roberts and Pritchard. Will be interesting to see when the game comes around though.
I always said I wouldn't push my 6 year old grandson into supporting Sunderland after all the heartache I've had after 40 years but with this team that has gone out of the window! I have never been this excited about a Sunderland team so much. The way we play football and the way the young players approach the game gives me real hope for the future that he WILL get a football strip regardless of his parents opinions! Plus I watched him playing this morning and I got as much enjoyment about watching his team as I did yesterday. The future is as good as it's been for quite a while
I think a back 4 could give us the solid base to let the forwards really cause trouble. Gooch and Cirkin as full backs but with licence to bomb forwarded, Evans to hold and drop in between the centre Half's to create a 3. Neil with his passing range picking out wide forwards in Clarke and Roberts. Put the opposition on the back foot and worried about us. ......................Patto ..................Baath.......Alese.... Gooch...,................................... Cirkin .....................Evans.......Neil Roberts............... Pritchard............. Clarke ..........................Sims Harsh on 09, but I'd love to see the wide men attacking and the fullbacks on the overlap and crosses into the box. But then the other side of me loves the back 3 with the false 9 formation with the quick passing and movement. God I'm excited about this
I think he prefers a back 4. Plus he's already commented on saying Ballard was superb at Millwall when he was Blackburn manager, and he tried to sign Huggins for Blackburn before we got him.
I could make 5 or 6 formations up with the options we have now and will have when the injured players come back and none look bad
Funny to see the likes of Baath, Gooch and Evans in many people's starting line up in the Championship ... ... when they weren't considered good enough for L1.
Gooch always gets me, people jump through hoops to find a way to blame him, yet refuse to accept that he struggled when he played 3 or 4 different positions some games. Evans I admit had a dip in form and hid a bit and I got frustrated but he's vital to our play, Baath has been different class since the season started, yet seemed limited last season (confidence maybe?)
When you look back at some of the line ups we put out, was it really tactical masterclasses or was it not having full faith in the players?
The future looks very bright can’t wait for the next game, the only thing I’d like to see us do is leave a man up on the halfway line when we defending corners anyone got thoughts on this
Yeah me On one hand I absolutely hate it, find it frustrating and believe it's poor tactics. On the other hand many teams bank on scoring from dead balls and losing a goal from one should be avoided at all costs. It also means teams, sometimes, over commit players forward meaning we can break if we win and retain the ball. In the old days we'd just hoof it forward and it would come straight back .... ... I now feel we have the pace and players able to break and score in these situations.