Sunderland return to Yorkshire to face Olympique de Marseille in a pre-season friendly. Last time out Sunderland lost to Bradford City and Marseille beat Ligue 2 side Pau. A much-changed Sunderland AFC side suffered defeat at Bradford City. First-half goals from Andy Cook and Calum Kavanagh punished the Black Cats in what was a closely-fought contest. Romaine Mundle pulled a goal back in the second 45, but the hosts held on for the win. Sunderland make a quick return to Valley Parade, facing Olympique de Marseille in a game which will commemorate the 15-year anniversary of the passing of the father of Sunderland chairman Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, Robert Louis-Dreyfus, who was the French side’s majority shareholder from 1996 to 2009. Regis Le Bris is expected to revert to the side that faced Blackpool last week with maybe a few tweaks to the starting lineup as Rigg, Mundle, and Aouchiche staked their claims. Ian Poveda may be included in the squad after missing out against Bradford. Olympique Marseille have a new manager, Roberto de Zerbi joined the French Ligue 1 side on the 29th of June after leaving Brighton at the end of May. Marseille are looking to bounce back after their poor season in Ligue 1 which saw them finish in seventh and miss out on European football for the upcoming season. Following the departure of Jean-Louis Gasset, they brought in Roberto de Zerbi and the Italian has already signed the likes of Mason Greenwood, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Ismael Kone, Regis le Bris: “The team wants to learn and that is clear during the week and the training sessions. But we need more experiences so that with the feedback we can build new ideas and to build the ability to adjust the little details, because that really makes the difference.” Roberto de Zerbi: "We have agreed to end my time at Brighton so that the club and I can continue to work in the way that suits each of us best, following our own ideas and visions, as well as our work and human values." Form: Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-3-3) Patterson, Cirkin, Alese, O'Nien, Hume, Neil, Jobe, Browne, Clarke, Mayenda, Roberts Subs: Moore, Hjelde, Ekwah, Rigg, Auchiche, Mundle, Rusyn, Ba, Poveda. Injured: Ballard, Huggins, Triantis, Seelt. Olympique de Marseille: Played for both: Lorik Cana Djibril Cisse Bolo Zenden Stephen Fletcher Chris Waddle My two pence: Another game at Valley Parade but with a completely different lineup. With one week left before it all kicks off again this should give us more indication of what we can expect this season. It should be interesting to see how we cope against de Zerbi's tactics. I’m going for a 2-2 draw Live Stream: https://www.safc.com/live Ha’way the Lads
I'm assuming Roberts will start, given that he started against Blackpool. I'm not sure if Poveda is ready to start yet, so he may come off the bench
Think we are still a bit of a work in progress and do not think we will fully be able to judge the team or the new coach till about 5 to 7 games in.
this will be a hammering, Mundle great but still no striker signed pathetic, bottom 3 for us this season.
I'll miss this one unfortunately. Out with the family down Yorkshire somewhere. Hope we look a bit more settled and solid at the back.
Not as far as I can see, to me he and Jobe seem to be the very anathema of the new coaches attacking philosophy . Of the two Roberts is by far the worst culprit, I was shocked he got a new contact tbh., The sooner we can off load him the better imo., and that goes for Jobe too, hopefully for more than he has cost , hopefully we can con some desperado to take up the Bellingham challenge. PS short term this post could come back to bite me on the posterior.
Why haven't they been and got Mbappe on loan that's what I want to know. If they aren't going to show ambition they should get out of the club now and don't let the door hit them on the way out! Do you think that Storey fella would still be interested?
I know the SOL is being refurbished but I wonder why they chose Bradford as the location. Not sure how many Sunderland fans are expected to travel, probably decent numbers as usual, but surely there was an option closer? Edit:: Attendance for the Bradford game is listed as 4,374 on wikipedia (not the best source admittedly), which isn't the best, not sure how many they're expecting to travel down for Marseille.
Tough test for the lads this but one to look forward to nonetheless. Some good players in the Marseille squad and whoever is on the left marking greenwood could be in for a tough game
