Sunderland v Saints FA Cup 5th round Sat 15th Feb 12:45 Match Officials - Referee Michael Dean Assistant Referees Darren Cann & Jake Collin Fourth Official Paul Tierney OK so a lunch time trip to Sunderland on Saturday and a chance to get into the Quarter Finals of the greatest cup competition in the world. We've seen far too much of Sunderland this season and we've not been helped with their game last night getting called off. They have been in good form and will be looking to keep their run going. They do however have a Cup Final and relegation fight to distract them. Saints on the other hand come into the match on an 8 game unbeaten run and unlike Sunderland have no distractions. MP can play our strongest side and apart from Dejan and Gaston has a full squad to choose from. The team I think picks itself with Cork and Chambers both immense against Hull. Boruc Chambers Fonte Maya Shaw Morgan Cork Jrod Davis Adam Rickie Subs KD Clyne Jos JWP Vic Guly Isgrove/Gallagher Wembley here we come! COYR!
Have more confidence in yourself Lambie...had to get my glasses to read your small print It must be our turn to win...we really want and need this to put the cherry on the cake of our season. Cannot understand our poor results against Sunderland...it's not as if we played badly. If we lose this, I shall assume Poyet practices voodoo.
GUS POYET insists he will still shuffle his pack for this weekend’s FA Cup clash with Southampton, despite last night’s encounter with Manchester City falling victim to the weather. The dress rehearsal for next month’s Capital One Cup final proved to be a damp squib last night after gale-force winds in the North West forced the Premier League game at the Etihad Stadium to be postponed due to safety reasons. With Sunderland facing three games inside a week, Poyet had been planning to use Saturday’s visit of Southampton as an opportunity to hand his fringe players a run-out, while giving a debut to January signing Nacho Scocco. And the head coach plans to continue with that strategy, even if the bulk of his first-team regulars will go a fortnight between games. Poyet said: “I was looking forward to giving a few players opportunities and that will not change. We have a few players who need to play and deserve to play, but for different reasons, they haven’t been able to. “I’m talking about players like (Emmanuele) Giaccherini and Scocco. They both need minutes, so we’re going to use that game for this. “But it will all be first-team players, we will not be taking the game lightly. I hope that we win it so we don’t have to play a replay.”
West Ham are off to Dubai for warm weather training before our game...reward for dropping out of FA Cup. Allardyce says their recent improvement has been due to looking forward to light training in the sun. I think our team wouldn't be influenced by that...they know there is no 'light' training if you accompany Mauricio on a sunny jaunt. They'd rather be here in the FA Cup in winter.
Ye don't blame Poyet at all. Scrapping for survival, the postponement just means a mount-up elsehwere down the line and they have a cup final to prepare for too. Hopefully they'll shuffle their pack and we'll repeat our performance of a few weeks ago but with the deserved outcome this time!
Morning fellow Red n White army personnel, or just red army now for you guys? lol Should be a good game with pressure off both teams, it would be nice to go through but we already have one final to look forward too. I think you will nick it 1-2 but if Gus is throwing a few of our new guys in and fringe players I am sure they will want to stake a big claim for a final spot in the team. Keep an eye out for Scocco, he should be starting and is a bit of an unknown, could be Aguero esc or Altidore esc, so beware!
could be Aguero esc or Altidore esc, so beware! ___________________________________ Bloody hell, extremes!
Hey everyone... LOOK! A sensible, friendly, warming post from A Sunderland fan... it can happen. Cheers Danny, good luck, but not too much. Don't let Poyet get your guys to kick any of our prettier boys please.
And if any Sunderland player has a cold, sore throat, tummy bug, psoriasis, or dandruff, please keep them away from Luke Shaw.
We'll take that. Can you have a word with the powers that be.... save everyone the trip. Right, sorted. When's the draw for the quarters? We're in.
I never tip us to lose mate, nor want us to, I just think we have much bigger things to deal with. The congestion of another cup run would be a worry, we need to stay in the league.
Understand gents, but please make sure you email Poyet and tell him. We really would like this one and if you are all in agreement, then we'll take it.
