Sunderland travel to Lancashire to face PNE in the Championship. Last time out Sunderland drew with QPR and PNE lost to Bristol City. Sunderland made one change with Browne replacing Rigg in midfield, and Mayenda returning to the bench after injury. The Black Cats failed to score for the first time this season as they fought for a point after Jobe was sent off against QPR. Huggins, Seelt, Samed, Alese, Poveda & Abdullahi remain injured. Jobe is suspended for the next 3 games. Hume and Rigg are on 4 bookings and just one away from a suspension. Preston North End dropped to 20th in the table after they lost 3-1 to Bristol City at Deepdale. A controversial early opener from Yu Hirakawa, in which he committed a blatant handball, plus goals from Nahki Wells and Max Bird delivered all three points for the visitors in Lancashire. Sam Greenwood's second-half free kick had briefly levelled for Preston, but it was not enough to prevent the Lilywhites' first defeat in six games. Milutin Osmajic could return after suspension. Regis le Bris: "The clean sheet is very important because it's never easy to win a point away, especially with 10 players for 30 minutes. "The first half was balanced with good rhythm from us when we controlled the ball, but more difficult when they played direct and we struggled to control their style of play. [On red card] "It wasn't so violent but we need to respect the decision and I hope he will learn from the experience." [On Chris Rigg absence] "He seems OK, and he should be back with the team next week." Presser at 1pm on Monday Paul Heckingbottom “We have had an apology for two bad decisions at Millwall and one for another bad decision at Burnley. “I am sure we will get one for this [the opener] as well but there is nothing we can do about it. We keep getting on the wrong end of it, but hopefully it will even itself out. “We responded well to going behind, but as good as were first half the tone was set by that first goal. They defended really well, and looked to counter. “Second half when we got ourselves back in it I was confident we would go on and win the game, but we gave away a poor goal on our part soon after.” Match Appointments Referee: LEWIS SMITH Assistant Referees: Hristo Karaivanov & Sam Lewis Fourth Official: Rob Madley Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-3-3) Moore, Cirkin, Mepham, O’Nien, Hume, Browne, Neil, Rigg, Mundle, Isidor, Roberts Subs: Noukeu, Hjelde, Ballard, Aleksic, Aouchiche, Connolly, Rusyn, Mayenda, Watson. Injured: Huggins, Seelt, Alese, Samed, Abdullahi. Suspended: Jobe PNE (3-5-2) Woodman, Storey, Lindsay, Hughes, Potts, Frokjaer, Whiteman, McCann, Kesler-Hay, Riis, Greenwood. Subs: Best, Bowler, Cornell, Holmes, Ledson, Okkels, Stewart, Whatmough, Þórðarson Injured: Brady, Evans, Bauer, Keane Betting Odds: Sunderland 11/10 PNE 5/2 Draw 9/4 Prutton Predicts: meh My two pence: A gritty performance at QPR especially in the second half to earn what might be a valuable away point. PNE have a decent home record and until the weekend their only defeat was to Sheffield United on the opening day. I’m going for a 2-0 away win. Live Stream: Sky Sports Football https://www.safc.com/live Available to overseas fans Ha’way the Lads
A relative in Chopwell has a business client in Blackpool and travels regularly down there. They've said to avoid the M62 if you're driving, delays. From the NE the A66/M6 is better or the A59. If you have the time, going through Hawes is a lovely drive but puts half an hour on. For any other help please log into www.smugthinksheknowsbestabouteverything.com
His questions are so ****e as well. I'm not sure how he takes 5-6 questions to even mention Chris Rigg. For a local journalist he's so out of touch with what the fanbase want to hear.
I wonder if there's any temptation for RLB to alter the system slightly to a three at back. Personally I wouldn't... but he could go with something like the below: Moore Ballard O'Nien Mepham Hume Neil Rigg Cirkin Roberts Mundle Isidor EDIT - apparently this question was asked and he said no. I missed it. Whoops
RLB We have a squad of 17-18 players able to play at the core and a lot of young players but they need good foundations to express themselves on the pitch The squad exists, I am confident with the options we have, we have to create something new but with the culture we have now it's not a problem. From now we will probably have a higher rotation of players, for me its not a problem, it's a long season and we have to manage changes and adapt. News on Patterson is better but he may not be ready yet, Ballard and Alese are training. Formation - we built on strong foundations and I don't want to change the structure too early, we will work with the back 4 Browne will play on his return to Deepdale, he deserves to play as he is a great professional. Rigg is back training and will be in the team for Preston When you think about a problem in the chest you can think of many things about the issue but for Chris fortunately it wasn't bad, he trained very well this morning. I'm really pleased for him and for the team because he's very important for us. I think Salis will need to wait until the beginning of December. It was a re-injury so we need time. There are many games to play
