Sunderland welcome Crewe Alexandra to the Stadium of Light in the Carabao Cup. Last time out Sunderland lost to Ipswich and Crewe drew with Mansfield. Danny Batth is set to play despite missing out on the Championship opener against Ipswich Town amid fresh reports linking him with a move away from Wearside. Over the summer. the centre-back has been linked with a move to Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray has admitted that he cannot guarantee Batth a spot in the side, which means the player has to decide whether he is prepared to fight for his place at the club or move on in search of regular first-team football. Trai Hume is suspended for this game. Tony Mowbray: "We're putting bids in for players, but to find strikers worldwide is really difficult at the moment as some of the huge Premier League clubs are finding. "We don't have ridiculous amounts of money so instead of the first-choice player you're looking at you might end up taking the third or fourth choice, and we have to get on with it." "Hopefully there will be some more attacking options in the building in the next week or two, they'll have to settle into the environment and get used to everybody," added Mowbray. "I think we'll get stronger, in six or seven weeks we might have Ross through the middle and Bradley in behind and that with Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts out wide looks a formidable attacking line up. Lee Bell: "I understand why they are doing it, but I hope they see some sense. Footballers are already running record distances because they are fitter than they have ever been. "Now we are asking them to continue for an extra half-an-hour or so. You can't even manage games because you've no idea how long the game is anymore. "I just think there will come a point when the players will break, it's far too long." Match Appointments: Referee: Scott Oldham Assistant Referees: Wayne Grunnill & Conor Brown Fourth Official: Paul Marsden Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-2-3-1) Bishop, Huggins, Baath, Triantis, Gooch, Spellman, Rigg, Ba, Pritchard, Bennette, Dack Subs: Young, Johnson, Crompton, Watson, Kelly, Gardiner, Tuterov. Injured: Embleton, Stewart, Evans, Alese, Matete, Mayenda. Suspended: Hume Crewe Alexandra (4-2-3-1) Davies, Demetriou, Offord, Williams, Adebisi, Tabiner, Powell, Thomas, Nevitt, Long, Tracey. Subs: O’Riordon, Billington, Lunt, Booth, Cooney, Holicek, Baker-Richardson Injured: tbc Betting Odds: Sunderland 1/3 Crewe 13/2 Draw 4/1 Prutton Predicts: meh My two pence: I'm expecting a totally different lineup from Sunday and hopefully a different result. I'm going for a 3-1 home win Live Stream: *** Audio Only *** https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Ha’way the Lads
putting bids in for players lol who is the manager or owners ? i bet he wanted Simms like all of us, poor bloke will be out by October here we go again the pauper club. Back to league one if we don't win this we are finished.
Thanks once again for the thread RTB appreciated as ever,i personally didn’t think Simms was worth the price that was payed for him,I’ll keep me powder dry till the window slams shut, I’m gona go for a nice relaxing 3-0 to the lads COME ON
Good old Monty some might say.....Thanks RTB a chance for others to stake a claim, like we said last week against Hartlepool.....Crewe are known for trying to play ' the right way ' so should be a decent test, can't see beyond a home win and a chance to settle some fans early season nerves. HTL.
No idea what team we are going to play. It's a game where I think Hemir should start though. Needs to get more minutes. Even if it's just another 55 or so.
Id start him and give him minimum of 45 mins, dack can then replace him I reckon gooch will play CM n johnson at rb
Yeah, i would say there is a lot of panic after 1 game and I expect we will start to settle down and get some rhythm in the coming weeks. For me there were signs that we were doing the right things but we were nowhere near sharp enough at the cutting edge. I thought Ipswich looked good going forward but were not great at the back but also thought we did not have enough width as our 2 full backs seemed a bit hesitant going forward to offer the overlap. That changed when Gooch, Pritchard and Ba came on. I hope tonight that TM gets his tactics right as IMO I think he has to shoulder some of the blame for Saturday as our initial set up was vey narrow and we did not capitalize on the possession we had. As for tonight my money is on a 2-0 victory and I hope a clean sheet.
Worry tonight is that people will think it will be a walk in the park. We could play a team similar to Hartlepool. If we don't get the tactics correct, with such a team, it will be defeat. I think Tone will drop a few experience lads in to provide a greater base.
We only played on Sunday afternoon so none of the players that played 90 minutes will play tonight. Cant risk these players getting injured, i wouldnt be risking roberts clarke cirkin ballard neil or ekwah tonight
What a very telling comment from the Crewe manager He is complaining that they won't be allowed to 'manage the game', in other words, cheat
Great idea let Hemir play and get injured in a game of lesser importance than league games. what does that leave us up front.
He needs minutes tho, he needs to adapt to English football as quickly as possible and the only way he can get that is by playing. None of us are suggesting he plays 90 mins but a good 45 min run out would be ideal to help.get him up to speed
Hemir has to play, I agree. He needs up to speed and he needs to adapt. A goal would be a massive boost for the lads belief
He needs the experience. We can not stifle his development because we have failed to recruit appropriately.
RTB I guess we might give the Hartlepool thrashed players a chance to redeem themselves? I must admit I am not to fussed about cup comps (although a runn in the FA cup would be nice), you could put money on which one of 3 clubs that will win this. The league is everything.... after a poor result in the opening game, where the weaknesses of last season were evident again, we just have to improve. What Mowbray seems to be saying is our budget for buying players and wages for retaining players, are low. Owners right I suppose, so I will not hold my breath for a big name signing. It will be the pot luck of a Premiership loan.
