Sunderland welcome Sheffield Wednesday to the Stadium of Light in the Championship. Last time out Sunderland lost at Preston and Wednesday beat Hull. Sunderland made 11 changes against Preston in the Carabao Cup and lost 2-0 to a full-strength North End team. The Black Cats put up a good fight and although they ran out of steam in the second half, Regis Le Bris still thinks some of the players who featured at Deepdale can make an impact in his first team. Chris Rigg showed what he can offer in midfield but is unlikely to start against the Owls. Sheffield Wednesday also made 11 changes in their cup tie at Hull City but the Owls got the rub of the green with two goals from debutant striker Charlie McNeil and they took advantage of Hulls inability to finish their chances and also some dubious decisions by the officials. Danny Rhol’s side maintained their momentum from last season which saw them avoid relegation after their terrible start to the season was transformed with an impressive run-in that was only bettered by Ipswich Town. Malik Wilks has joined Rotherham this week. Regis le Bris: "For us, it's not good to be out of the cup but we want to improve these players, create opportunities to develop them. "This was a great occasion for that. The experience was very good for them. It's never easy because they do not play together much. "There are three or four players from this team who when they play with our strongest players as well, it will be different - the references and the experience will be better." "There was a big improvement [from Bradford] and it is proof that you need time to grow, you need experiences of this kind to develop and improve. It's a long and tough process. Today is a low because we lost but in the end they have learned a lot." Presser: Danny Rohl: “I saw his quality – his touches between the lines – and he did very well against the ball. “He was clinical and it was fantastic to see, but it’s about working hard as we have a lot of young players at the club.” “I’m very proud of my team with 11 changes. I have more and more options now and it is fantastic to see. It’s good to have the feeling that everybody is ready. “We started really well – we immediately did what we wanted to do – but it’s just the start.” Match Appointments: Referee: DEAN WHITESTONE Assistant Referees: Daniel Leach & Rob Smith Fourth Official: Oliver Langford Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-3-3) Patterson, Cirkin, Alese, O’Nien, Hume, Neil, Browne, Jobe, Clarke, Mayenda, Roberts. Subs: Moore, Triantis, Hjelde, Aouchiche, Rigg, Ekwah Ba, Rusyn, Mundle Injured: Ballard, Huggins, Seelt. Sheffield Wednesday: (4-2-3-1) Beadle, M.Lowe, Bernard, Valery, Bannan, Inglesson, Musaba, Windass, Gassama, J. Lowe. Subs: Charles, Diaby, Ihiekwe, Johnson, Kobacki, McNeill, Palmer, Smith, Valentin. Injured: Famewo, Chalobah Betting Odds: Sunderland 11/10 Wednesday 23/10 Draw 12/5 Prutton Predicts: 2-3 My two pence: A disappointing result at Preston but overall, it was a good performance all things considered. It did highlight where we need to strengthen, both in defence and attack. Wednesday started the season as they finished the last one with Rohl getting the very best from his squad. This will be a tough game but one that we can respond to with a big crowd getting behind the team. I’m going for a 3-1 home win Live Stream: https://www.safc.com/live Live on Sky Sports Football Ha’way the Lads
Thanks as always RTB. Tough game, will be an open game. They are massively improved but for me still massive gaps in their squad, bigger gaps than in ours. They are well managed but I’d probably only take Ugbo in our starting 11. We mock on here but Barry Bannan (TM) is indeed one of the better playmakers outside PL. Cirkin will give them problems, we should have enough in midfield, and I think we be ok in an entertaining game. 2-1 the lads. Jacky tearing them apart again with the winner. Ha’way the home game!
Tough game, Rohl is a special manager n has them so well drilled both in n out of possession Our CM is key to this game, Bannan will control the game unless we get real pressure on him. Likely to be a job for Jobe as bannan likely to be the deepest of their 3 The biggest individual will be clarke against Valery, talented fullback but he is suspect when defending so clarke can def get at him Looking forward to it
Nailed that. Valery has days when looks almost great, but my god is he a panicker. If Jacky does him a couple times early he can become a liability. That’s the area to target. They give up shots around the box as well. Jobe has a rocket in him as we seen couple times last year. If you take out the spiky mood in our fan base, and break it down, man for man we are absolutely better than them though. Actually, I’ll rephrase ‘better’ to ‘more talented’ overall.
I fear for us here. Sheff Wed will press us high and if Mayenda can't hold the ball up we will not be able to beat the press. Another big physical team that is good from set pieces which still concerns me despite us looking fairly solid defending them last Saturday. Sheff Wed have a lot more pace in their team than Cardiff which I think may cause us issues, Musaba in particular. We must stop Bannan from dictating the game, whether that's Mayenda dropping onto him or Jobe pushing onto him we must not allow him time on the ball. Obviously we still carry a huge threat and i've enjoyed our two games this season, just think this is a bad matchup for our current squad. SAFC 1-2 Sheff Wed.
Fair assessment mate, there’s the flip that if they wanna have a go at us Jack & Paddy look in fine form and we can capitalise if we get the press right. I’d actually play Jobe as a 9 in this one to stretch it a bit, bring in AA and have Browne just in front of Dan. Give them a bit more to think about.
I disagree. We shouldn't be taking Jobe, our best player last weekend, out of position. Don't think Aouchiche has the defensive awareness to track Sheff Weds decent midfield either. It really is all about the striker for me, if Mayenda can hold the ball up we'll get something from the game, if not we'll get overrun
I’m thinking AA can give them more to think about going other way and use Jobe physicality to hold up
I think Plymouth and Rooney are in for a tough time this season, maybe even cut adrift in 24th, if that's correct the 4-0 won't look as impressive as the Sheff Wed fans think it is. Our 2-0 away at Cardiff is more impressive in my opinion. I think this will be a competitive game, but we come out on top, 2-1. Clarke and Jobe.
Likely to be his last game for Sheff Wed as Man City are in for him to replace De Bruyne but face competition from Real who want him to replace Jude.
