When is Mr Bruce ever gonna learn..I ask myself. According to reports from several sources today, he is going to make widespread changes to the line up..but more significantly to the formation. Whilst I fully appreciate that some changes will be enforced ie..O Shea and possibly Vaughan, why the hell dosent he just go 442 and give us a fighting chance, Bruce has apparantly already stated in reports that he is going to flood the midfield against United (in an attempt to keep the score down no doubt) rather that keep 442 and give us a fighting chance. I think many of us on here have stated a million times we would rather 'have a pop and lose' than lie back and bloody surrender. Get ready for Sessegnon up front on his tod folks..lol
Well what I read was he was thinking of 4-5-1 with Wickham playing on the left and reverting to 4-4-2 when attacking, thread on it yesterday from interview with him. Widespread changes, 3 could be considerd widespread but all forced changes. Change in formation, I would say 4-5-1 is acceptable against United. Sess up front on his own, wont happen. I would rather wait for the team announcement before condeming the man.
I don't think it is realistic to go to Man U with 4-4-2. I would have Bendtner up front With Sess given an attacking midfield role..
I can see it being westwood bardo..turner..brown..richardson larsson..catts..colback..sess..wickham bendy
I wouldn't complain at that. One up front this season isn't the horse-work that we asked of Bent and Gyan last year. Larsson, Sess and Wickham are all willing to go forward and help - and all three can cause problems when they do go forward, These summer signings have given us much better options than Catts, Meyler and Henderson, none of whom knew where the opponents half was and offered nowt to our strikers. I'm much happier with Larsson on the right than on the left, too. With a proper left winger, we're asking much less of Ricco and you can see the difference in him since Larsson went back to his proper position. But if he plays this formation today, I don't want Bruce to stick with it. The next four games are among the easiest we'll ever get in the PL, and we need to go for the throat. Two up front for those games please.
with you all the way on that, they key to a 4-5-1 is not the formation but movement when we attack and we now have players who want to attack. Back to 4-4-2 at home and for me away in most games.
If he goes that way Syd then its imperative that he gets Wickham up alongside Bendy at the first opportunity when we attack,instead of employing him too wide on the wing
STEVE Bruce is ready to ditch his 4-4-2 formation against Manchester United tomorrow, but insists Sunderland cannot afford to “shut up shop”. The Black Cats boss has paired on-loan Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner and teenager Connor Wickham as an orthodox front two in the last two games and it has paid off, with Sunderland taking four points out of a possible six. But Bruce is expected to tinker with his system at Old Trafford tomorrow after persistently preaching the merits of a five-man midfield against the Premier League’s powerhouses. Bendtner will lead the line as a lone striker, but Bruce has hinted that Wickham could also feature after seeing the 18-year-old thrive in a wide left role for Ipswich in the Carling Cup semi-final against Arsenal last season. Bruce believes Sunderland must pose an attacking threat against his old club or risk constant waves of pressure from the reigning Premier League champions. “There’s a big debate over whether we should play 4-3-3, 4-5-1, 4-4-2 or whatever,” said Bruce. “You can talk about tactics all you like, but however you play you have to make sure you perform to the best of your ability. “If you do that, you have a chance regardless of the formation you play. “The worst thing in my book is to just go there and accept that you are going to get beaten – and a lot of teams have done that over the years. “If we go there and just try to shut up shop and defend for 90 minutes, Man U are used to that and they know how to break teams down. “We have to try to cause them some problems, without being too open either. “It’s a balancing act. “I think you need an extra midfielder against the top clubs to prevent you being overrun, but last season I saw Connor play for Ipswich on the left wing against Arsenal and he got forward to support the lone striker. It’s something I’m considering.” Bruce has never beaten Ferguson in 18 attempts as a manager, while Sunderland have not triumphed at Old Trafford since 1968. But they were agonisingly close two years ago when Anton Ferdinand’s stoppage time own goal salvaged a point for United. Bruce added: “We all know how difficult it is to get a result at Old Trafford – I’ve been trying for years! “And I know there is this stat that it has been 43 years since Sunderland last won there, but we were only a minute away in 2009. “We have to go there and be positive. We can’t go there and just say that historically we have never got anything at Old Trafford. “Everything is geared towards Man U – it’s Sir Alex’s 25th anniversary in charge and it’s their first league game at home since they lost 6-1 against City, so they will be hurting after that. “But none of that matters. “The one thing you have to do in these kind of games against the big clubs is show up, play well and have a real crack at it.” Midfielder David Vaughan remains doubtful with a groin problem. Sunderland are already without keeper Simon Mignolet and defender John O’Shea, with Keiren Westwood and Phil Bardsley their replacements ]
4-5-1 wouldn't be a bad thing. You often need that extra man in midfield during away games to nullify the pressure from the oppositions team. We've actually found it a lot tougher during home games this season where we've been up against a 4-5-1, as we've been outnumbered in midfield.
The problem with 451 as I see it, is you vertually invite pressure, your whole motivation is about prevention and not attack and inevitably at Old Trafford (as is always the case) the buggers end up breaking you down 9often in the last 5 mins when yer knackered) id personally like to have a pop at the buggers...go down fighting and all that. No Sunderland supporter (or Newcastle supporter for that matter) would ever criticise a team for trying
Hopefully he is giving Sess free rein, which would worry Utd's defence. Is Evans playing as frankly he has been ****e lately? Wickham LW not sure about, I like the lad but haven't seen any bursts of speed going past defenders as of yet! If he ends up shagged out at least we have Ji to bring on.
He played there at Ipswich but I would have prefered Bendy on the wing and Wickham our striker if we are going that way
I just can't see him outstripping their defenders out there. We have seen he is capable of collecting the ball and holding onto it, hopefully he can move the ball on quickly.
Exactly. As you know, I've never had a bad word for Bent or Gyan. I've always maintained that Bruce drove those two out. That midfield last season made it too easy for opposing defences - just put two or three defenders on Bent/Gyan because Sunderland have nowt else going for them. It wasn't even as though they were getting balls to their feet so they could take on defenders. We had nothing like a Vaughan last year. It was just hoof it upfield and hope the striker could out-sprint their entire defence. It was work fit only for donkeys, and it's cost us two international strikers to learn it. Bendy won't have the same problem this year.
Couldn't agree more. I said more than once at the time, anyone would get pissed off chasing lost causes and hoof balls for 90 minutes. I still believe it was a tactical decision though as it was happening constantly.
Westwood, Bardsley, Richardson, Turner, Brown, Sessegnon, Larsson, Cattermole (C), Colback, Bendtner, Wickham Dont believe everything you read!!!
