Sunderland travel to Blackburn in the Championship. Last time out Sunderland beat Norwich and Blackburn lost at Millwall. Sunderland made one change to their starting eleven, with O’Nien replacing Hume at right back. The Black Cats started brightly without creating any clear-cut chances but Norwich took the lead after some sloppy defending from a short corner. Sunderland started the second half a lot brighter and Dan Ballard made it 1-1 after good work from isidor and Mayenda. Jobe Bellingham wrapped up the points with fantastic control and a well placed shot into the far corner. Dan Ballard took a knock late into the second half and could be out for 2 weeks. Poveda was on the bench on Saturday, Samed and Abdullahi are getting closer to fitness but unlikely to feature. Huggins, Mundle, Browne & Watson remain injured. Blackburn’s 6 game winning run came to an end with a 1-0 defeat at the Den. Rovers had to play the last 15 minutes with 10 men as their injured captain limped off, they had already made 3 substitutions. Millwall scored in the 7th minute of injury time to take the 3 points. Rovers have not lost at home since they suffered defeat to Stoke in November. Lewis Travis came off with a hamstring injury and Harry Pickering took a blow to his knee at Millwall and both are doubtful for this game. Regis le Bris: "It was another tough game. Our opponent played well, we expected that, they are a good team, they can press and defend. It was a good challenge for us. "The game was unstable with many mistakes from both sides but in the end we found a solution to win so it's good for us. "The game was a little bit crazy, (a team) has to manage it properly. The referee did what he thought was best. "During the corner kick (from which Norwich scored) I think it's a question of mentality. We had a lack of energy during that part of the game and it changed the dynamic. "If we want to win more games we have to be well-rounded and set pieces are very important for that. "It's not a question of snapping your fingers, you have to work on it, to show your improvements, from corners we are probably better, from throw-ins we still have work to do. "Jobe is so powerful, he has the good quality to affect the game, it's not a surprise to us, he did very well today." Press Conference: John Eustace: "I thought it was a really good afternoon for both teams. Conditions were very tough and the way the boys battled was very pleasing. It is something we do week in, week out and obviously disappointing to concede in the last minute. "Obviously it was disappointing to lose [Lewis] Travis with 10, 15 minutes to go but I still felt very comfortable. I didn't think they would score and I thought the way the boys defended was excellent. "We played some good football today. We had two or three good chances in the second half which we didn't take. Overall I thought a draw was a fair result. "I am proud of the efforts in the first half of the season and the run we have been on has been terrific. A lot of hard work has gone into it but there is going to be a lot of hard work going into the second half of the season." Form: Match Appointments Referee: ROBERT MADLEY Assistant Referees: Blake Antrobus & George Byrne Fourth Official: Ross Joyce Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-3-3) Patterson, Cirkin, O’Nien, Mepham, Hume, Neil, Jobe, Rigg, Mayenda, Roberts, Isidor, Subs: Moore, Hjelde, Alese, Jones, Aleksic, Aouchiche, Poveda, Rusyn, Connolly. Injured: Huggins, Seelt, Browne, Mundle, Watson. Blackburn Rovers: (4-2-3-1) Pears, Rankin-Costello, Hyam, Batth, Pickering, Buckley, Tronstad, Cozier-Duberry, Ohashi, Beck, Gueye. Subs: Baker, Dolan, Hedges, Hilton, Leonard, Litherlan, McFadzean, Weimann. Injured: Sigurdsson, Vale, Wharton, Travis. Betting Odds: Sunderland 29/20 Blackburn 9/5 Draw 9/4 Prutton Predicts: meh My two pence: Another great comeback against Norwich in a close fought game despite the efforts of the referee to spoil our day. Hopefully this will be a great day out for all those travelling. Blackburn might just regret giving us 7000 tickets for this one Ballard looked like he took a knock at the end of the game so I'd rest him even though he is on a scoring roll. I’m going for a 2-1 away win. Live Stream: Live on Sky Sports + https://www.safc.com/live Ha’way the Lads
Brilliant thread mate, hope the match lives up to your standard ... ... I have a feeling this could be a key game in our season and one we'll remember.
They’ve announced a key injury today in their midfield, travis is out, midfield could be key here, they’re in very good form but don’t score many, I’ll always back us to score, I think we’ll get atleast a point
Travis seems to be a big part of their play since Szmodics left so that can't hurt tbh ... ... they also had their left back, Harry Pickering, go off injured so I'd hope Roberts can really have a good game. If you can't recall who Harry Pickering is, his brother may help remind you
I think the lads are full of belief with a never say die mentality. I think they go on that pitch expecting to win now and Reggie has them pumped up that they will run through a brick wall for the badge. I'm going for a win. Doesnt matter how. Cheers RTB. Yet another tremendous write up.
My guess is that this will be a low margin, tight game. Their last 6 games have finished 1-0 (5 times) or 2-0 (once). They don't create all that much and they don't give up too many chances either. Eustace has done a great job to get that squad into the playoff picture. I would go with Patterson Hume Ballard Mepham Cirkin Rigg Neil Jobe Roberts Mayenda Aouchiche Picking between Mepham, Ballard and O'Nien is so difficult but I feel like Blackburn are going to try and drag us into a physical game and I would go with Ballard in that situation. I don't think he's been great this season but he's a quality player and i'm sure his performance levels will be back to what we are used to soon. Think Mayenda deserves the nod up front for a few games. I want his pace up against Batth and Hyam and I think he's a better match physically against the two big centre backs as well. Aouchiche has done well coming on recently and if we make the change up front he's the only real option on the left. 0-1, last minute Mepham header.
I agree with your team but as someone, possibly Nads, pointed out its difficult to tweak a team thats lost 1 in 14. Would dropping Wilson damage his confidence? Regardless of who is playing thankfully its Reggie who has that difficult task of picking them and getting the plaudits or no doubt the grief if it goes wrong.
I think because of the schedule it can be described as rotation instead of dropped. I wouldn't worry about Wilsons confidence, he strikes me as someone who has 100% belief in himself and will be more than willing to earn his place back
Looking forward to this ..all these big away days are just as we start to believe or when we are on a roll ... will be a buzz around the place ..
Another 3 points will do nicely thank you, no point about being bothered about personnel or tactics, too much bother, thanks again RTB for the top class intro. PS I am puzzled as to why Blackburn could not make a 5th substitution against Millwall , am I missing something obvious again .
Go get them lads, give the travelling fans a great day out and keep the momentum going as I feel we're on a real roll. Three points, don't care who gets the winning goal just go there and win. Thanks RTB, HTL.
Can only make them in 3 windows (HT isnt classed as a window tho), looks like they made 4 subs in 4 windows so wouldn't have been able to bring another on
A win here would be massive, opens up a big gap on Blackburn If we play as well as we can we will win this game. Player for player we are better and Travis missing is massive for them - I really like him Agree with a few who have suggested Mayenda to start upfront, just think he would cause their 2 CBs problems I suspect it'll be the same team as last time with Hume in for o9 - wouldn't be against it tbh, we will need to rotate after this game tho to keep things fresh
So listening to the Blackburn fan on there, he thinks they have been fortunate with some of their results, didnt realise Danny Batth played for them, Isiador should be able to sprint past him 4-1 to the lads
Literally have no idea how this one will go. Feels like one where a point is a good result. A win would be brilliant. A defeat not the end of the world considering their form.
